You would be forgiven for mistaking this colourful and quiet stretch of road for a picture from a quaint seaside town - but it is supposed to be a bustling Cardiff high street on the better side of a £5m council makeover.
The multi-million pound scheme was intended to regenerate one of Cardiff’s most deprived areas in the shadow of the Principality Stadium and Central Square. For 18 months, Tudor Street in Riverside was reduced to one-way traffic while workers transformed the road with a two-way cycle lane, sustainable drainage and new streetlights.
At the same time, the council offered to upgrade storefronts in an effort to breathe new life into the old road. When work started in 2021, Councillor Lynda Thorne told The Cardiffian: “Now, more than ever, we are seeing the benefits of local shopping and these projects demonstrate the commitment we have to secure the future of these important community shopping centres.”
Read more: Pictures show progress at Cardiff's huge new 'Canal Quarter' as major transformation continues
Three months since the work was completed and the road returned to its full two-way glory, we visited traders on Tudor Street to see how they felt about the changes. It was hoped the investment would make Riverside a more attractive destination - but Tudor Street traders say the plan did not consider the “simplest of things that a business would need” and that “they’ve got it wrong”.
“We can’t function as a shop now. It’s really made our business worse,” said Mr and Mrs Patel, who run Stadium Stores. “The road looks nice, looks wonderful. But practically, it’s worthless.”
Before the road regeneration, workers could park directly outside the shop with little difficulty unloading stock. But the new road has no dropped curbs, next to no parking spaces and double yellow lines as far as the eye can see.
The Patels say they have a choice between parking outside the shop and getting a fine, or parking across the road in someone else’s garage. “They’ve overcomplicated everything. We can’t unload our stuff or do any of our business. It’s very scary because you’ve got to lift your stuff, look both ways, look for the cycle lane, and then come over to the two-lane road. It’s a long way to carry this heavy stuff.”
Customers also suffer from the lack of parking - and business owners feel that the “commercial improvement scheme” may have had the opposite effect. “Lots of shops around us have opened up, lasted a few months, then shut,” the Patels said. “This isn’t the right place to open a shop. It’s not worth it.”
“When I first moved here, the street was full of families,” Mr Patel added. “I’m a convenience store. It’s not convenient anymore because there’s no one there.”
After more than two decades at Stadium Stores, the road's transformation has made business so hard that the Patels have decided to leave Tudor Street behind. “We’re one of the luckier ones on the street. But we’re still done, we’re closing up. That's our final decision.”
The Patels are not the only shopkeepers disappointed with the development. Owner of Eastern Chinese Supermarket David Wong also points to parking as the main culprit for plummeting profits.
“If they give us some parking space for customers for half an hour, it would be better,” Mr Wong said. Since the roadwork started, he said his profits have almost halved, leaving “just enough” to pay wages. "Not enough to make a profit,” he said. “Not a chance.”
Mr Wong, who has owned his shop for over thirty years, does not deny the ease of online shopping but said small businesses like Eastern Chinese Supermarket need all the help they can get to keep customers onside, including the chance to park nearby. Six black bollards have taken the space where three or four cars could have parked near Mr Wong's shop before the road was revamped. “No space, everything is expensive… Cardiff is dead," he added.
As well as the city centre traffic, pedestrians must now contend with a two-way cycle path and 'water gardens' which serve as sustainable drainage. Salek Miah, who runs computer shop PC Express, said the new-look road is putting customers in “dangerous positions” and that it was “a matter of time” before an accident. He said he watched an elderly customer trip over a water garden while carrying a heavy box to their car on the other side of the street.
Mars Aesthetic came to Tudor Street just a week ago but owner Tyna Glaister has already taken fault with the water garden outside her salon, which she likens to a "pothole for rubbish".
"First impressions are everything," Ms Glaister said. "It could look nice, but to spend all that money and then not maintain it... It just seems a bit pointless really."
PC Express's Mr Miah said the re-generation had "absolutely not" not given businesses the boost they expected. “We’re not getting the customers that we thought we would get after this renovation,” he said. “It’s the same people that know the local area. Everyone’s confused since the roadworks. Nobody knows where, or if, they can stop.”
The parking problem, traders fear, is keeping regular customers away altogether. “They can do their shopping for five pounds, but get a parking fine for £35,” one shopkeeper said. Another who didn't want to be named said they had taken it upon themselves to look out for traffic wardens so their customers can park near the shop. “I’ve got to look after my customers. I tell them you can park on the double lines and I’ll look after your car while you shop."
Tudor Street traders said they look at other shopping areas in Cardiff like Canton and Grangetown and wonder why their customers have not got the same opportunities to park nearby. Many feel the £5m could have been better spent on dealing with the increasing prevalence of anti-social behaviour – especially crime and drug use.
Mr Miah said: “My daughter and I were walking down the road and she said ‘Dad, I don’t feel comfortable. Could we cross the road?’" On one occasion, Mr Miah recalled seeing “someone injecting something into their bottom" in broad daylight on the street corner near his shop. “What upsets me the most is that this is a family area. There's a lot of young children and families around here.”
Cardiff Council said they invested £5m into the street to improve the business premises and surrounding environment. "This is the only local shopping area in Cardiff to receive this level of investment," a council spokesperson said.
"In total, 32 businesses have been given funding to improve their premises, which have been designed and delivered by the council on behalf of the traders.
"We recognise there were delays during the works, but the street scene has improved markedly from how it looked in the past and we are sure once people begin to realise how much the area has changed and been upgraded that it will be seen as an attractive destination in itself."
READ NEXT:
- The sad decline of Cardiff's forgotten Dominions Arcade
- The incredible secret street that lies behind an unsuspecting door in Cardiff's Royal Arcade
The tiny Welsh beach with its own 'world class' pub that's well worth the drive
-
The man who bought a rundown estate and is turning it into a luxury retreat
- The secluded Welsh lake surrounded by mountains that's well worth the drive
