Cardiff - City of the Year

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

For every small venue like the Welsh club cities like Bristol have plenty more

---

Do they really? Was never really fussed by the fleece or the one in the boat…..

Impressive this got to 7 pages.

Sludge you need to move on mate, busty Bronwen at visit Cardiff turned you down weeks ago. It happens.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by goats

Do they really? Was never really fussed by the fleece or the one in the boat…..

---

The Thekla is OK but more as a gimmicky venue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee

I love the Millennium Centre. Opera is well supported there, but it's hardly just about opera. Musicals have good stints there with sellout nights. It supports all manner of artists on its public stage. We should be proud that we have somewhere like this in Wales. I was lucky enough to be a part of the support act for Brett Anderson last year. It might not have Sludge's metal bands, but it is a great venue that many cities would love to have.

---

That is a great venue, and adds value to the Bay and does bring in people from well outside Cardiff.

Millennium Centre is fantastic and a huge success. We lack grassroots venues but thats no reason to assume what we do have is poor.

It's a stunning venue

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Robin Friday's Ghost

I also go to 30+ gigs a year at various venues. I'd say 3-4 are sold out. I've seen 2 contemporary music gigs at the WME. One was 'pretty full', the other had the circles closed. You don't really know what you're talking about.

---

I'd say you are being economical with the truth if you think shows at the millennium are well patronised compared to bands

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JamesWales

Millennium Centre is fantastic and a huge success. We lack grassroots venues but thats no reason to assume what we do have is poor.

It's a stunning venue

---

A huge success?

Mmmm

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

I'd say you are being economical with the truth if you think shows at the millennium are well patronised compared to bands

---

Based on what? A feeling in your water?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Robin Friday's Ghost

They aren't though. And because they aren't, you have obviously no evidence whatsoever for your insistence that they are. I go there regularly. I know you'll simply reply that the crowds are small but that doesn't make it true, it just makes you look daft and ill-informed.

---

You don't have to go to every event at the millennium......and you don't either .....to know that it would be far more used to capacity if it was a contemporary music venue

Like St David's Hall back in the day the big earners were rock and indie and pop events

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

You don't have to go to every event at the millennium......and you don't either .....to know that it would be far more used to capacity if it was a contemporary music venue

Like St David's Hall back in the day the big earners were rock and indie and pop events

---

Have you been to any? Which ones? And you're right. I've never seen a musical there or ever likely to. But I have been down the Bay often when they're on and there are throngs of people streaming in and out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Robin Friday's Ghost

Based on what? A feeling in your water?

---

Oh no there are plenty of events at St David's and the millennium where hardly any tickets are sold

I have seen photos of the audiences and have plenty of conversations with people who have been there with just a few hundred people in a 2000 seater venue

stunning venue its an awful eyesore

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by poc

stunning venue its an awful eyesore

---

I think it's stunning outside too but that's down to personal taste I guess. I know that the Senedd building won awards for design and, while it's really good inside, I find the fact it's all glass means you can't really see it from outside. In fact I incurred the wrath of the guide who showed us around it a while ago by saying so.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by poc

stunning venue its an awful eyesore

---

I think it's great

It's just ridiculously under used trying to be too many things

If it was a major venue on the band touring circuit it would certainly make up for the empty seats when it puts on cabaret

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

Oh no there are plenty of events at St David's and the millennium where hardly any tickets are sold

I have seen photos of the audiences and have plenty of conversations with people who have been there with just a few hundred people in a 2000 seater venue

---

Well not when I've been in there or witnessed the crowds from outside. Anyway rational debate isn't a, strong point of yours so I'll leave you to your metal-fuelled misery.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alan Lung

Sludge you are an absolute disgrace. Slagging off our fantastic city constantly. You should be ashamed of yourself.

---

He does it for attention

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Robin Friday's Ghost

Well not when I've been in there or witnessed the crowds from outside. Anyway rational debate isn't a, strong point of yours so I'll leave you to your metal-fuelled misery.

---

Well if you have been to a few shows at the millenium or been there when there have been big crowds outside that isn't evidence at all of the place being a roaring success , is it ?

Rock or contemporary events sell out ....I went to see Van Morrison about 10 years ago in one of my mellow phases and they could have sold that twice over

Cardiff is crying out for a mid range music venue and we have one ......but it's more likely to have Siberian Jugglers on stage ....in front of a few students

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NinianOpinion1927

He does it for attention

---

Matron he needs his tea and cake

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

Matron he needs his tea and cake

---

You seem to be a cut throat capitalist when it comes to music venues,the arts & culture. You've imbibed the free market mantra, now you push it. Mad.

God we need football back, arguing about a feckin theatre hall now :shrug:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

For every small venue like the Welsh club cities like Bristol have plenty more

---

Bigger cities have more houses too. Amazing!

If you compare Cardiff with any city of similar size I think it does very well.

Having been born here 90years ago to me there will never be a better place to live, that is all I have to say.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rontomuk

Having been born here 90years ago to me there will never be a better place to live, that is all I have to say.

---

:thumbup: Mostly agree, get rid of Drippy and things will improve quickly!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Bigger cities have more houses too. Amazing!

If you compare Cardiff with any city of similar size I think it does very well.

---

I would agree with you there

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NYCBlue

I've always thought Cardiff was a great city and a great place to live. Although it's not as big as some of the cities mentioned. It's still a capital city. And there's plenty going on.

---

I left in 2000 but the city has improved enormously in that time. Up until about a year ago, anyway. When were you last back? The city centre suddenly feels like it’s in decline and very dilapidated. I go back a few times a year and the last trip was quite shocking. The public transport system is a joke: the city has a train system but runs toy trains on it. The buses have been decimated. I used to travel in easily by public transport 20 years ago. I had to drive this time, the public transport is simply ineffective now. The road system is fragile beyond belief- the fact they are growing the city with no development of the roads or transport system is ridiculous. Llandaff was always a bottleneck but you might as well walk now- buses aren’t going to get through that mess, and the train system is a joke. And they are piling thousands more houses out towards radyr with no plan for the infrastructure. Llandaff is going to be a mess. It’s so frustrating that a city with so many natural advantages has been so badly mismanaged for so long. I still love Cardiff as a city and I still think it’s the best “do everything in an hour” city centre in the country, and it still has unique things like the arcades. But whereas it has seemingly resisted the decline suffered by other cities since the emergence of Amazon until recently, it’s also seemingly spent the last year or so catching up bloody fast .

All that said- I do agree it’s still a great place to live. I just think it’s really missed a trick that might have seen it rise rapidly to be one of the best places to work and live in the country. I appreciate none of this is really what the OP’s post is about but it really boils my piss as a (now) outsider to watch it al happen

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Optimistic Nick

I left in 2000 but the city has improved enormously in that time. Up until about a year ago, anyway. When were you last back? The city centre suddenly feels like it’s in decline and very dilapidated. I go back a few times a year and the last trip was quite shocking. The public transport system is a joke: the city has a train system but runs toy trains on it. The buses have been decimated. I used to travel in easily by public transport 20 years ago. I had to drive this time, the public transport is simply ineffective now. The road system is fragile beyond belief- the fact they are growing the city with no development of the roads or transport system is ridiculous. Llandaff was always a bottleneck but you might as well walk now- buses aren’t going to get through that mess, and the train system is a joke. And they are piling thousands more houses out towards radyr with no plan for the infrastructure. Llandaff is going to be a mess. It’s so frustrating that a city with so many natural advantages has been so badly mismanaged for so long. I still love Cardiff as a city and I still think it’s the best “do everything in an hour” city centre in the country, and it still has unique things like the arcades. But whereas it has seemingly resisted the decline suffered by other cities since the emergence of Amazon until recently, it’s also seemingly spent the last year or so catching up bloody fast .

All that said- I do agree it’s still a great place to live. I just think it’s really missed a trick that might have seen it rise rapidly to be one of the best places to work and live in the country. I appreciate none of this is really what the OP’s post is about but it really boils my piss as a (now) outsider to watch it al happen

---

You raise some important points. Afew cities, Cardiff included are seeing some signs of declines, primarily as a result of working from home, hollowing out city centres, making public transport unsustainable, coupled with rising problems in the city centre etc.

Can Google the 'Sam Francisco Doom loop' to read more.

Stan Collymore wrote this on X about his town, Cannock. He's got a good point, here, particularly about a chronic lack of spending and investment on infrastructure, and that's across the UK.

I'm always in Cannock.

I know my town better than anyone. Anyone. From local government to national representation.

You know when Cannock people should have started paying attention? Not when people fleeing war stay in 2 hotels. We should have started paying attention when the sons and daughters of generations of Coal Miners (who in some of my mates cases were literally starving during the miners strike) continually voted for a party that has left our town in tatters.

The town centre is dead, go up to Park Road and see the line of people waiting for methadone as the town battles a major heroin problem, then look at the "shops" which now is vape /barber/poundshop on a loop, and then tell me with a straight face that Cannock voters aren't responsible for the state of the town but 200 brown people in 2 hotels are.

People walking around town in ****ing dressing gowns and slippers, local standards disappearing due to the chronic lack of investment in infrastructure and people in our town based on voting for parties contrary to our town's interests has turned chunks of it feral.

And we can't blame "them" because 97.4% of Cannock people are white. But hey, it's the 200 people in hotels fault.

Only a bigot could blame people seeking asylum for the woes of a town which decided that decades of Tory government would make their town healthy, happy and productive but instead has left it a shell of the vibrant town it was many years ago.

Blame yourself for once. Blame your vote. Blame yourself for giving liars, cheats, corrupt officials your thumbs up nationally.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee

Stan Collymore wrote this on X about his town, Cannock. He's got a good point, here, particularly about a chronic lack of spending and investment on infrastructure, and that's across the UK.

I'm always in Cannock.

I know my town better than anyone. Anyone. From local government to national representation.

You know when Cannock people should have started paying attention? Not when people fleeing war stay in 2 hotels. We should have started paying attention when the sons and daughters of generations of Coal Miners (who in some of my mates cases were literally starving during the miners strike) continually voted for a party that has left our town in tatters.

The town centre is dead, go up to Park Road and see the line of people waiting for methadone as the town battles a major heroin problem, then look at the "shops" which now is vape /barber/poundshop on a loop, and then tell me with a straight face that Cannock voters aren't responsible for the state of the town but 200 brown people in 2 hotels are.

People walking around town in ****ing dressing gowns and slippers, local standards disappearing due to the chronic lack of investment in infrastructure and people in our town based on voting for parties contrary to our town's interests has turned chunks of it feral.

And we can't blame "them" because 97.4% of Cannock people are white. But hey, it's the 200 people in hotels fault.

Only a bigot could blame people seeking asylum for the woes of a town which decided that decades of Tory government would make their town healthy, happy and productive but instead has left it a shell of the vibrant town it was many years ago.

Blame yourself for once. Blame your vote. Blame yourself for giving liars, cheats, corrupt officials your thumbs up nationally.

---

Was it the Tories that made Stan Collymore go dogging or slap up Ulrika Johnson? Isn't that what he did to her?

Whatever the problems of Cannock, the residents have a legitimate right to object to immigration. There's genuine concerns. Collymore dismisses this right with anti Tory platitudes and thinks that he knows better.
He mentions heroin addicts, yet it was Labour's wars that enabled the opium cultivation trade to flourish in Afghanistan leading to heroin saturation in Britain. I really wouldn't follow much Collymore has to say on anything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NinianOpinion1927

Was it the Tories that made Stan Collymore go dogging or slap up Ulrika Johnson? Isn't that what he did to her?

Whatever the problems of Cannock, the residents have a legitimate right to object to immigration. There's genuine concerns. Collymore dismisses this right with anti Tory platitudes and thinks that he knows better.
He mentions heroin addicts, yet it was Labour's wars that enabled the opium cultivation trade to flourish in Afghanistan leading to heroin saturation in Britain. I really wouldn't follow much Collymore has to say on anything.

---

He's not wrong about a lack of spending on infrastructure etc. Since 2010, we've had so many public spending cuts that it was bound to have a massive, negative effect. All so multi millionnaires could keep more money.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee

Stan Collymore wrote this on X about his town, Cannock. He's got a good point, here, particularly about a chronic lack of spending and investment on infrastructure, and that's across the UK.

I'm always in Cannock.

I know my town better than anyone. Anyone. From local government to national representation.

You know when Cannock people should have started paying attention? Not when people fleeing war stay in 2 hotels. We should have started paying attention when the sons and daughters of generations of Coal Miners (who in some of my mates cases were literally starving during the miners strike) continually voted for a party that has left our town in tatters.

The town centre is dead, go up to Park Road and see the line of people waiting for methadone as the town battles a major heroin problem, then look at the "shops" which now is vape /barber/poundshop on a loop, and then tell me with a straight face that Cannock voters aren't responsible for the state of the town but 200 brown people in 2 hotels are.

People walking around town in ****ing dressing gowns and slippers, local standards disappearing due to the chronic lack of investment in infrastructure and people in our town based on voting for parties contrary to our town's interests has turned chunks of it feral.

And we can't blame "them" because 97.4% of Cannock people are white. But hey, it's the 200 people in hotels fault.

Only a bigot could blame people seeking asylum for the woes of a town which decided that decades of Tory government would make their town healthy, happy and productive but instead has left it a shell of the vibrant town it was many years ago.

Blame yourself for once. Blame your vote. Blame yourself for giving liars, cheats, corrupt officials your thumbs up nationally.

---

He would be better off not making it party political. Things are far more complicated than that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JamesWales

He would be better off not making it party political. Things are far more complicated than that.

---

I tend to agree with you. Spending cuts across the board from all parties are a bigger issue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee

Stan Collymore wrote this on X about his town, Cannock. He's got a good point, here, particularly about a chronic lack of spending and investment on infrastructure, and that's across the UK.

I'm always in Cannock.

I know my town better than anyone. Anyone. From local government to national representation.

You know when Cannock people should have started paying attention? Not when people fleeing war stay in 2 hotels. We should have started paying attention when the sons and daughters of generations of Coal Miners (who in some of my mates cases were literally starving during the miners strike) continually voted for a party that has left our town in tatters.

The town centre is dead, go up to Park Road and see the line of people waiting for methadone as the town battles a major heroin problem, then look at the "shops" which now is vape /barber/poundshop on a loop, and then tell me with a straight face that Cannock voters aren't responsible for the state of the town but 200 brown people in 2 hotels are.

People walking around town in ****ing dressing gowns and slippers, local standards disappearing due to the chronic lack of investment in infrastructure and people in our town based on voting for parties contrary to our town's interests has turned chunks of it feral.

And we can't blame "them" because 97.4% of Cannock people are white. But hey, it's the 200 people in hotels fault.

Only a bigot could blame people seeking asylum for the woes of a town which decided that decades of Tory government would make their town healthy, happy and productive but instead has left it a shell of the vibrant town it was many years ago.

Blame yourself for once. Blame your vote. Blame yourself for giving liars, cheats, corrupt officials your thumbs up nationally.

---

So sad. I don't know why people voting against their own interests is so rife. It's the same in the US.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JamesWales

You raise some important points. Afew cities, Cardiff included are seeing some signs of declines, primarily as a result of working from home, hollowing out city centres, making public transport unsustainable, coupled with rising problems in the city centre etc.

Can Google the 'Sam Francisco Doom loop' to read more.

---

Working from home :hehe:, so says the bloke who says this isn’t Party political.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Working from home :hehe:, so says the bloke who says this isn’t Party political.

---

Says Bob, and old timer whose retired, with a small footprint, who advocated longer lockdowns and strict restrictions ( which clearly have impacted the city centre ). It’s almost as if he believed every word the government said when in reality most people who didn’t fall for the propaganda could have told you how it would have affected the city centres of most towns and cities within the UK.

Anyone who could see this was called out as a conspiracy theorist. :hehe: prove me wrong

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NinianOpinion1927

Was it the Tories that made Stan Collymore go dogging or slap up Ulrika Johnson? Isn't that what he did to her?

Whatever the problems of Cannock, the residents have a legitimate right to object to immigration. There's genuine concerns. Collymore dismisses this right with anti Tory platitudes and thinks that he knows better.
He mentions heroin addicts, yet it was Labour's wars that enabled the opium cultivation trade to flourish in Afghanistan leading to heroin saturation in Britain. I really wouldn't follow much Collymore has to say on anything.

---

Whatever the problems of cannock , they are not immigration as 97 percent of the town is white

I think collymore is an arse and his past behaviour appalling but he's right

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Working from home :hehe:, so says the bloke who says this isn’t Party political.

---

??