ARCADES PROJECT

Wyndham Arcade was one of many arcades in Cardiff built in the 1880s. Thankfully it survived suggestions that it be demolished 100 years later, and now stands as a busy walk-through from St Mary Street to near the main Cardiff Library.

It doesn’t have the grandeur of the Castle Arcade, nor the splendour of the High Street Arcade entrance, nor even the quirkiness of Morgan Arcade, its nearest neighbour, but it stands as very much part of the family of arcades that makes Cardiff the city it is.

Restaurants and bars book-end Wyndham Arcade, though a big guitar shop also occupies one of the corner units facing out onto St Mary Street. Then there are lots of the types of shops common in arcades across the UK: barbers and hair salons, nail bars, clothing alterations, games shops.

And last but not least there is The Bear Shop, which actually sells cigars, tobacco and shorts like whisky and cognac. There is a stuffed grizzly bear in one of the shop windows, along with Cuban flags and an image of Che. Thankfully, along one of the panels carrying old photos of the Wyndham Arcade, there is an explanation (in part at least): The stuffed bear has been the emblem of this business since it opened in the 1860s; they only moved to the arcade in 1990, but the bear came with them, and is still in the arcade today.

In terms of features, Wyndham Arcade has a certain simplicity compared to Cardiff’s other arcades: no bends or curves in the glass ceiling; no balconies; no crossing walkways or bridges above. But its simple straightness, and the width of that glass roof actually makes it lighter than many other arcades in Cardiff. And the number of people stopping for selfies and just taking pictures of the place showed it has just as much appeal as the others.

My pick of the arcade’s past

When plans for Wyndham Arcade were first laid out in 1886, the design was directed towards an arcade with bigger shop units and a wider walkway than the existing arcades in Cardiff. Wyndham Arcade was officially opened in July 1887.

It didn’t take long for the first break-in to occur, and it was not surprising that this happened in a jeweller’s shop at No 18, which was entered through a back door, £520 worth of gold and silver lockets and watches being taken in the haul. Sadly this jeweller went bankrupt just a few weeks later, and directly blamed the robbery for his shop’s failure, though at the hearing it was revealed that an earlier business he owned had also closed with heavy debts some 10 years previously, and the police clearly suspected that the jeweller might have concocted the raid for his own benefit.

There was a sequel, a few weeks later, which one local newspaper described as “a genuine case of romantic crime, in which the ingredients of robbery, misfortune, unjust suspicion and poetic justice are so nicely blended that it is almost a pity that the affair should have happened in the midst of such prosaic surroundings.” Some weeks after the bankruptcy hearing, a shabbily-dressed man tried to pawn a valuable ring at a shop in Gloucester; the pawnbroker called the police and a wonderfully-named Inspector Piff made an arrest, after which more of the stolen jewellery was found in various pockets of the man’s coat.

In 1988 local college students were asked as part of their urban development studies to assess the future of Wyndham Arcade. While still working on their project, local developers announced plans to demolish the whole arcade: a third of the students agreed, arguing ‘there’s nothing architecturally worth saving about it.’ Others called for sprucing up the arcade, and the final group argued for retaining the basic arcade structure. Their tutor told a local newspaper that their ideas should be sent to the developers, to give them alternative plans. Whatever actually happened, the demolition idea clearly, and thankfully, got shelved.

Sources for the above stories all from www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and specifically: 1) South Wales Daily News, 29 December 1887 – National Library of Wales; 2) Cardiff Times, 10 March 1888; 3) South Wales Daily News, 9 April 1888 – National Library of Wales; 4) South Wales Echo, 24 March 1988, Reach plc.

What memories do you have of visits in years gone by?

Have you got any good stories to add on the past of this arcade?

What’s your favourite shop in the arcade today?

Have you seen this arcade in any films or books?

My favourite shop in the arcade today

Waterloo Tea has long been my go-to place for a good cuppa in Cardiff; this branch in the arcade just adds a touch of splendour to the tea experience here. I love the Havana Bear Shop, though I am not really the ideal customer.

This arcade on film or in books

Wyndham Arcade was the setting for some scenes in a 2006 episode of Doctor Who. And a local writer Jennie Savage has written a book called ‘Depending on Time,’ which takes a similar approach to An Arcades Project in looking at the social history of Cardiff’s arcades, withe much more detail than this website can manage, though.

Is there a website for this arcade?

Not specifically, but it has its own page on the excellent City of Arcades website. Link here to view that.