On the upper floor of Cardiff's Capitol Centre, a young man and woman gaze adoringly at each other. They are not customers, but actors on an ad hoarding which stretches wide to cover one of the shopping centre's many empty units.
"Capitol Centre, Cardiff — Where Friends Meet," reads the ad. It's a description which seems incongruous in the almost eerily quiet Tuesday afternoon, with only a few customers in the building.
Struggles for trade are hardly new here, and the malaise is not limited to the Capitol. Recent years have been harsh to this end of the city centre, leaving the eastern side of Queen Street looking increasingly rundown. But what is new is a sense of optimism stemming from two ambitious plans — one for a market of independent traders, the other for a 'Canal Quarter'.
