Things you remember as a kid visiting Cardiff Town centre

[BLUETIT]

T

As a young kid always getting dragged around Howells and David Morgan’s although the Toy department in one of them did a decent range of Star Wars toys that kept me and my brother quiet.

As a pre teen/teenager venturing about on my own Olympus Sports.

Cardiff is much more pleasing on the eye than it was in the 70s/80s from my memory.

There was a pub on Queen Street, Taff Bar? My dad would sneak in when parenting for me and my brother. When I got to the age of being to be able to go in there it was gone.

The TAFF VALE

[Jordi Culé]

T


The TAFF VALE

Cheers butt. The name of that pub has moithered me for years.

[insider]

Jothams
Rhoopa jeans
Marcross
Restaurant upstairs in BHS
Capitol Cinema
Pet shop upstairs in the Market
Gwyns
Charles Street night clubs
Military tattoo in the castle
Bevans motor cycles by the Angel
Mr Nudge
Model train shop in Castle arcade
Dominions arcade with the cafe that had Scramble and Space invaders in it.
Spillers and Buffalo records
Hayes Bridge Road pre the "new" library toys are us and the ice rink
Central boys club
Empire pool
Guilford crescent

[uncle bob]

Faggots and peas from Donnelly's cafe upstairs in the market

[Toadstool]

As a Child
Sarsaparilla Bar
Asteys
Cafe upstairs in BHS
Mackross / Alders
The Coop that used to be next to the Old Arcade
Some cut price warehouse store that used to be by Mill Lane KayCee or something like that.
Going with my dad to the Old Arcade, or Cardiff Rugby Club bar.

As i got older
Bristol Hotel
The Cambrian
Wine Press
Sams Bar
Bluebell
Red Dragon Bar ( Railway station )
Jacksons
The Ice rink in town

[ToTaL ITK]

the terror of seeing 300 punks and skins walking down queens street while wearing a parker and pork pie hat

[goats]

Jothams
Rhoopa jeans
Marcross
Restaurant upstairs in BHS
Capitol Cinema
Pet shop upstairs in the Market
Gwyns
Charles Street night clubs
Military tattoo in the castle
Bevans motor cycles by the Angel
Mr Nudge
Model train shop in Castle arcade
Dominions arcade with the cafe that had Scramble and Space invaders in it.
Spillers and Buffalo records
Hayes Bridge Road pre the "new" library toys are us and the ice rink
Central boys club
Empire pool
Guilford crescent

Beaties? Was that it’s name? Remote control cars and stuff where the Sony shop is now opp the castle.....loved that place as a teenager

[uncle bob]

Little Arthur the dwarf screaming at everyone, "Go on you"

[MacAdder]

Gwyns upstairs in the market.
All the gear, Ben sherman butterfly and button down collar shirts, stay press strides, tank tops all displayed in glass cabinets.
Couldn't afford any of it, my paper round paid bladders!

Green shield stamps shop....the house was fill of stamp books!

[MacAdder]

Beaties? Was that it’s name? Remote control cars and stuff where the Sony shop is now opp the castle.....loved that place as a teenager

Are you thinking of Bud Morgan's in one of the arcades?

[A Quiet Monkfish]

The Louis - it was really very good. Remember being taken with my mother to the restaurant downstairs in Morgans/Howells. It had imitation portholes all around with painted fish. I was fascinated.

[MacAdder]

Going to Buffalo Records and Spillers

Buffalo had more heavy rock and metal , spiller was full of students and the staff were odd

There was a little bloke who never served anyone and would just stand by the till

Spillers was slightly cheaper I found, cheap and cheerful.
Buffalo went all modern with their earphones so you could listen before you bought. I suppose they had to get their money back somehow.
Have a listen in Buffalo, buy in Spillers.

[MacAdder]

Sarsaparilla Bar in the Arcade.

Kids beer

[Rjk]

my first time encountering a newspaper seller on queen Street or the Hayes, shouting "Western Mail and Echo" but it sounding more like "met mun barneghew" and absolutely pissing myself laughing about it with my brothers

[Cleve van Leef]

Trolley buses running down Queen Street
Gwynn’s in the Market
Sasparilla Bar
Spiller’s Record Shop

[cyril evans awaydays]

Spillers was slightly cheaper I found, cheap and cheerful.
Buffalo went all modern with their earphones so you could listen before you bought. I suppose they had to get their money back somehow.
Have a listen in Buffalo, buy in Spillers.

Judging by my album collection I bought mostly in Buffalo as quite a lot of them still have the price stickers. Most are £4.99 from the early 80s which shows that music was a lot more expensive relatively in those days.

[Cyncoed Slumdog]

Qui Qui's on a Saturday night until it closed at 1am then Monty's next door until 2 unless you were having a meal (I never did) and they let you stay on.

[uncle bob]

Definitely called beaties. Then after that the Sony shop it was called next to barfly

[Gofer Blue]

I remember trips to Cardiff with my grandmother when I was a little boy. Just the bus or train journey alone from Mountain Ash was as exciting as getting on a plane to the USA would be to a kid today! It was a rare treat though but the things that really stand out were:
The market, the smell of coffee coming from the Kardomah cafe (we never drank "proper" coffee at home, only tea or Camp "coffee"), David Morgan's, the trolley buses (especially when the driver had to replace the pole when it sometimes came off the wire at a road junction), the toilets in the Hayes (I had never seen public toilets that were below ground!). There are probably lots of other things that will come to me later today!

[Toadstool]

Beaties? Was that it’s name? Remote control cars and stuff where the Sony shop is now opp the castle.....loved that place as a teenager

Bud Morgans - Beaties was by the rose 7 crown opposite the castle

[Kind of Blue]

Cockles from the market and deli food from Wally’s are the most evocative for me as a youngster in the 90s/00s. Spent a lot of time in Cafe Europa as a teenager. Old Spillers and Kelly’s, along with all the chain record shops. Gamlins and Cranes. The Plan, Crumbs and Fresh. The ice rink. Jacob’s market.

Appreciate some of these things are still there but as an exile my visits are pretty infrequent now.

I have a memory of this fella playing what sounded like funeral dirges to me on a keyboard of some kind and mic’d up vox outside of the Capitol. I was fascinated and frightened of him as a nipper.

[Toadstool]

Definitely called beaties. Then after that the Sony shop it was called next to barfly

Different Place - Castle Arcade was Bud Morgans
Beaties was by the Rose & Crown Pub on Kingsway.

[Toadstool]

Grassroots cafe - Charles St.

[uncle bob]

Different Place - Castle Arcade was Bud Morgans
Beaties was by the Rose & Crown Pub on Kingsway.

Same place. Barfly was named this after rose and crown.

[Toadstool]

Same place. Barfly was named this after rose and crown.

Yes it was - but beaties wasn't in castle arcade