Pictures this week have shown major work is underway on Cardiff's new 'Canal Quarter.' The ongoing development of the historic canal in Churchill Way has been hailed as a potential solution to the Queen Street area, once a bustling retail hub which has declined in recent years due to the cost-of-living, rise of online shopping and out-of-town retail parks.
The Dock Feeder Canal on Churchill Way, which starts at Queen Street at the Capitol Shopping Centre, once formed an integral part of the city's canal network and had been covered for 70 years until it was revealed again in September last year. The re-development of the canal, which began in February 2022, is part of the council’s plan to develop a “green public realm” with “rain gardens”, outdoor seating with canal views and an amphitheatre-style “outdoor performance area."
The hope is that the canal will attract more visitors to the area and boost local businesses, as well as helping reduce air pollution, cutting carbon emissions and preventing flooding in the city centre.
Read more: The dire state of Cardiff’s Queen Street, the rundown and atrophying retail giant
Pictures this week showed work progressing on the major project including construction workers, building equipment, fencing and machinery on the site. Cardiff Council said the project is due to be completed by summer/autumn 2023.
We took a visit to Churchill Way this week to speak to some shoppers and business owners to see what they thought of the plans. Many shoppers on Queen Street said they believe could be the solution to the street's struggles. “I’m very excited for it to open,” said Angela Jones, who walks past the canal every day on her way to work. “We’ve needed something like this for years.”
“It’s such a shame how Queen Street has been left to die, essentially,” she added. “No one comes down the street unless it’s a way to get from one end of town to the other. I think it has the potential to bring people back to this end of the street and make it somewhere worthwhile.”
Catrin Griffiths, who has lived in Cardiff her whole life, said she was happy to see Cardiff’s history “come alive again. It’s an incredible idea,” she said. “The canal shouldn’t have been covered up all those years ago, and I’ll be very happy to see it back.”
However, the overwhelming feeling of passers-by was that the canal may not be enough to revive the struggling high street. At the moment, visitors and shoppers walking from Churchill Way into Queen Street will be greeted with a bank, a fruit seller, a couple of coffee shops and not much else.
In fact, it appears that one end Queen Street is struggling more than the other. If you join Queen Street from Newport Road and walk to the beginning of Park Place, more than 40 per cent of the street-facing shops are closed down as of this week. This is compared to the other end of the street, from Cardiff Castle and the statue of Aneurin Bevan to Park Place, where only ten per cent of shops are shut.
Matthew Lasebikan owns Falafel Corner at the entrance of the Capitol Shopping Centre which overlooks Churchill Way. He said of the plans: “I hope it will bring some change, but there’s just so many empty shops this side of town, it’s hard to believe it will have such a positive impact as they say it will.”
Mr Lasebikan believes heavy weekday footfall is in the past for the city centre, and the success of the re-development will depend on the type of businesses that will be opened around the area. Currently Churchill Way is lined with hairdressers, massage parlours, nightclubs and bars, and Mr Lasebikan worries that it has the potential to become a “boozy, night-life stretch.
"It all depends on the surrounding businesses. I think it has a lot of potential, but we need to be careful,” he added. “The council should aim to have a nice balance of cafes, restaurants maybe some retail shops - things that are going to be busy all day, not just at night.”
Tom Newick, who has worked in the Capitol Centre for two years, feels the same. “I really do hope it brings the change that’s needed,” he said. “I’ve just seen loads of shops around us close up. Everyone seems to be packing up and moving closer to St David’s Centre.
"The canal may help bring some people down to visit this end, but we need more than that to keep them here, and I just don’t know if that’s enough.”
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