Quote Originally Posted by Canton Kev View Post
Trying to make Cardiff into Bristol isn’t going to happen. Bristol and Cardiff aren’t comparable and have vastly different histories which have contributed to different cultural, social, political, etc communities forming. You can try force things like a bohemian scene, a curry mile or a musical culture but without a legitimate community to prop it up it would just end up tacky and fake. Like an Irish Pub in America with leprechauns on the wall and painted bright green.

Cardiff was practically a village in the early 1800’s with little to no significance. It was the success of the docks in the mid 1800’s and rapid increase in jobs and people that shaped Cardiff into what it is today.

Bristol on the other hand has been a major city in England for centuries and a fairly prosperous one. Ships were sailing from Bristol to America ~300 years before ships left Cardiff with coal.
The curry mile that exists in some cities could easily be developed in Cardiff its not a case of social engineering

Musically Bristol just has more venues of small to medium size

I have no idea why Bristol has a left of centre alternative scene but it does

Gloucester Road , Stokes Croft etc

Crusties , Vegetarian Cafes , etc

Has Bristols past shaped these areas ?

I don't think so , it just happens

Politically it's a far more radical city than Cardiff , 4 labour MPs and has been that way for some time

Cardiff North may as well be in Surrey its been tory that often

Even Cardiff West went Tory under Thatcher . Can't see that sort of thing in Bristols working class areas .

Cardiff just doesn't seem to be very alternative , radical and in some ways liberal ?

It seems conservative , with a small c