Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Funny how things stick with you throughout your life, but I can remember being told by a teacher in primary school (I must have been six or seven at the time) that we should always be grateful that we were born and lived in such a great city. She talked about how you could walk such short distances from the main station and bus depot to a castle, a superb civic centre with a good museum, the main shopping centre, great restaurants and pubs, theatres, cinemas and concert halls and international sporting facilities. She also spoke of Cardiff's racial tolerance and what she saw as its general friendliness.

Now, some of those things no longer apply (for example, criminally there is no bus depot, no Empire pool any more, Glamorgan no longer play right in the heart of the city and I must say that in general I've found the people in the valleys more friendly towards strangers than those in Cardiff), but I'd still say that most of what my teacher said sixty years ago applies - Cardiff is a great city.

[Majorblue]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Disclaimer I'm not from Cardiff and i have never lived in the city either.
Is it a great place to visit, absolutely.
Is there a lot wrong with it, of course.
Pointless to compare it with other places as each city has its own identity forged over, in most cases, centuries.
Just appreciate what we have and hope the blot on the landscape that is the high rise , architectural nightmare, student accommodation stops and the glorious Victorian arcades are maintained.
Bring back Asteys and the Lious as well.

[goats]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Everyone's entitled to their opinion of course and as someone who's lived in Asia since 2006 and went home last November for the first time in nearly 10 years, mine is that Cardiff is brilliant.

And I honestly think it's going to get better and better: https://www.cardiffwalesmap.com/CardiffDevelopments.htm

If I HAD to say something bad about the place I'd say that the Bay is a little overrated as it is but no doubt that'll look different too by my next trip home. There's so much potential there.

The thing that stuck out the most for me is how nice the people are. I had heard that everyone's miserable and it's all doom and gloom but that's just not the impression I got. We'd go to a bus stop looking lost and peopled helped us out every single time, then we'd chat for ages. People are so easy and nice to talk to. Sat next to a great bunch at the CCS, chatted and laughed the whole time. No idea who they are. Every day was a different conversation with a nice stranger.

I'm a bit of a pussy but never felt unsafe. Although my family did drop me off at my hotel down the Bay after a Tuesday night game because I was planning on walking through Grangetown alone with my new City away shirt in my hand. They didn't think it was a very good idea.

I admit I didn't go down that end of Queen Street but town is still great. The arcades are great. Cardiff Market is great. If that market was in Perth or Adelaide it would be all over the travel blogs. I grew up on pub food and a cone of chips. Now I can eat good Greek food and Polish dumplings? Maybe it was always there but there does seem like a lot more quality options nowadays.

My only hope is that house prices don't go through the roof before I get the chance to move back. Fingers crossed!

Dont worry about house prices….probably going to plummet some more as the government’s target landlords and they sell up….its a buyers market at the moment.

[BLUETIT]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

By far the better City? you really need to elaborate on that statement. London is a MEGA city, Cardiff is a village in comparison.

No it’s not !!!!!!!!

In just 1.12 square miles, the City of London counts around 8,000 residents, 513,000 daily commuters and 10m annual visitors. The City of London boundaries stretch from Temple to the Tower of London, on the River Thames including, from west to east Chancery Lane and Liverpool Street.

[Maurice Swan]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

I was last in Cardiff around March-June 2021....coming out of Covid restrictions. Queen street had gone down, with quite a few vagrants.....St. Mary street was just sad in the daytime but bustling at night. I actually found the public transport (had no car with me) quite decent (then...). My favourite area was the municipal centre/museum and the greenery there. Overall I think Cardiff is a lovely city.

[Kind of Blue]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

I haven’t lived in Cardiff for a decade and only in areas that’d be described as inner Cardiff. I’ve visited less and less as the years have passed, so all of my views will be dated.

I used to like how it felt more like a big town with a much bigger city’s amenities crammed into it, all fairly walkable too.

I liked all the areas I lived in and was never far from fairly spacious green spaces. Never really felt unsafe or likely to find trouble, never thought twice about walking alone at night.

Sports wise, it has a pretty impressive offering. 4 professional sports teams (?), international football, rugby, and cricket, with the 4th biggest stadium in the UK. Sometimes this fact gets overplayed, but also sometimes it feels it isn’t quite appreciated either.

Don’t get me wrong, it could definitely have been improved but public transport felt OK to me relatively speaking at the time. It’s not London/turn up and go but probably about what you’d expect from a British city, which says more about the UK.

Decent watering holes and fun for a night out, but with a somewhat limited variety of entertainment offer and to a degree cultural offer. There were places I liked just fine but restaurants on the whole were average.

In many ways I think it punched above its weight, but at the same time, almost contradictorily, it felt it often didn't make the most of its potential. I can’t quite put it into words but it sometimes felt it didn’t value what it had and had a sort of carelessness about itself.

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Nonsense, it’s tiny, I couldn’t even see water walking passed it. We shall see how it works out in 5/10 years time. I do agree that that end of town needs something, it could be a lot better as there are lots of flats, lots of students but no where really to hang out as everything seems to have shut including most of the capitol centre.

What on earth does the size of it matter? It's a feature which will attract bars and restaurants and thus people.

[bobh]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

By far the better City? you really need to elaborate on that statement. London is a Mega city, Cardiff is a village in comparison.

OK, I will.
I lived in Leyton, about 6 miles from the "City of London" which is the equivalent of a borough (there are may boroughs in Greater London, Leyton being in B of Waltham Forest.
I used to cycle to work, as the tube was overcrowded and smelly during rush hours. Rush hours were about 6-9:30 in the morning, 4-7 in the evening. Nobody spoke on the platforms or trains. My cycle route took me down Mile End Road, which was a wide road, but had stalls set out on the pavements, spreading into the road itself. These were mostly fruit&veg, as could be seen by the amount of spoiled fruit & veg on the ground.
The air smelled dirty, a white shirt was grubby by the end of the day. My wife is London-born, and after we moved to Cardiff, once over the initial culture shock she found London dirty and smelly when we visited back there.
You get a" London Weighting" allowance in your pay, but this doesn't compensate for the extortionate prices of buying or renting property, nor the cost of food &clothes. Don't start me on theatre prices.
Yes, there are great places to visit around London, if you can afford them. Most visitors who go shopping go to Oxford St, which has all the big department stores, but contain exactly the same stuff that can be bought in the provincial branches of these stores (or online), at less cost.

Crime is rife throughout, you only have to see the news to confirm that.
Is that enough for you

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Cardiff is a good size and near the coast, you've got all the facilities you need, plus Beaches, Mountains, and Countryside, overall it's one of the best places to live in the UK.

[RichardM]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Cardiff is a good size and near the coast, you've got all the facilities you need, plus Beaches, Mountains, and Countryside, overall it's one of the best places to live in the UK.

That's almost word for word what I say to people when I tell them why I have stayed in Cardiff since moving here 37 years ago.

[The Bloop]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Cardiff is a good size and near the coast, you've got all the facilities you need, plus Beaches, Mountains, and Countryside, overall it's one of the best places to live in the UK.

Spot on.

[goats]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

What on earth does the size of it matter? It's a feature which will attract bars and restaurants and thus people.

Jeez if that’s all it takes to attract people to a bar on the same street where you won’t even be able see any canal….really?

[Tuerto]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

OK, I will.
I lived in Leyton, about 6 miles from the "City of London" which is the equivalent of a borough (there are may boroughs in Greater London, Leyton being in B of Waltham Forest.
I used to cycle to work, as the tube was overcrowded and smelly during rush hours. Rush hours were about 6-9:30 in the morning, 4-7 in the evening. Nobody spoke on the platforms or trains. My cycle route took me down Mile End Road, which was a wide road, but had stalls set out on the pavements, spreading into the road itself. These were mostly fruit&veg, as could be seen by the amount of spoiled fruit & veg on the ground.
The air smelled dirty, a white shirt was grubby by the end of the day. My wife is London-born, and after we moved to Cardiff, once over the initial culture shock she found London dirty and smelly when we visited back there.
You get a" London Weighting" allowance in your pay, but this doesn't compensate for the extortionate prices of buying or renting property, nor the cost of food &clothes. Don't start me on theatre prices.
Yes, there are great places to visit around London, if you can afford them. Most visitors who go shopping go to Oxford St, which has all the big department stores, but contain exactly the same stuff that can be bought in the provincial branches of these stores (or online), at less cost.

Crime is rife throughout, you only have to see the news to confirm that.
Is that enough for you

Yup, it's enough. I was back and forth their for six years, admittedly not living there but spent considerable time in London, all over. There's not much point debating with you when all you can do is pick up on the negatives. It begs the question why did you stay so long. London has it's problems, logistically it's a nightmare on times and you have to be organised, I learnt that quickly. But there's a whole lot of fun to be had on every level. Maybe you should have got out more.

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Yup, it's enough. I was back and forth their for six years, admittedly not living there but spent considerable time in London, all over. There's not much point debating with you when all you can do is pick up on the negatives. It begs the question why did you stay so long. London has it's problems, logistically it's a nightmare on times and you have to be organised, I learnt that quickly. But there's a whole lot of fun to be had on every level. Maybe you should have got out more.

I totally agree with you.

Samuel Johnson once said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford".
I lived in Hounslow for two and a half years. On the weekends I would get on the Piccadilly line and travel into central London, a fantastic place!

I will visit Cardiff this June; my first time back in more than five years, and only my second time back in fifteen years.
My friends in China are blown away by the photos of Cardiff that I show them. One thing that I noticed on my last visit (sometimes it takes a prolonged absence) was how friendly and helpful people in customer service roles were.

[Rjk]

Re: Cardiff, how nice is our City ?

Cardiff IS nice.
Its a pretty small city, in a bit of a sleepy backwater in a forgotten corner of a declining nation, but it definitely punches above its weight for a city of its size.

International football, cricket and Rugby is a great plus - not many places can offer that and if we could establish ourselves in the premier league one day then that could also be a great boon to the city.
Shopping is decent
Bars and restaurants a bit meh.
Public transport patchy at best.

Programs like the Cardiff capital region should make a long term improvement, but its depressingly slow progress, it's just difficult to get hold of much infrastructure money if you aren't in London.