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Travel Reports

Europe’s youngest capital has got its sights firmly set on the future.

It’s well known that Hollywood can do wonders for tourist traffic, but what about TV? Is the East End of London inundated with curious map-readers trying to locate Pauline’s laundrette? Probably not, but then EE hasn’t done for London what Torchwood (even more than Doctor Who) has done for Cardiff – made it appear like a place worth visiting. In the words of John Barrowman, the BBC has made the Welsh capital resemble LA - only in a good way.

Of course, Auntie had a solid palette on which to build; few cities have received such a phenomenal degree of regeneration than Cardiff in the last two decades or so, and it’s not over yet. Next on the agenda is the massive St David’s 2 grand arcade, which will combine retail space (and a huge John Lewis department store) with a new state-of-the-art Central Library.

State-of-the-art buildings aren’t uncommon in this, Europe’s youngest capital – look at the plonked-in-the-middle-of-town Millennium Stadium, the futuristic Wales Millennium Centre, all that quirky public art at Mermaid Quay and those other developments around Cardiff Bay
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But a city worthy of the phrase European Capital needs some decent hotels, and the latest to join the club (a club that’ll need more members when the city begins to welcome international cruise liners) is the Park Plaza Hotel on Greyfriars Road. This four-star venue only opened 20 months ago, but it’s already bagged the AA Hotel of the Year award for Wales, impressing the judges for its forward thinking and chic style; although “chic” isn’t what comes to mind when you first arrive and clock its rather unprepossessing exterior, converted from an old municipal building.

However, the impression swiftly improves on entering. The lobby is a sea of inviting sofas banked around a warm, contemporary, room-length fireplace. Hundreds of individual paintings and sculptures created by the Polish artist Izabella Leszczynska are scattered around, and each guest room is adorned with one of its very own. Above the lobby fireplace lies a flight-tapestry of origami birds. The bedrooms suites, meanwhile, are spacious and stylishly kitted out in their own muted earth tones.

Cardiff regulars have taken to the Park Plaza with enthusiasm. When they’re not hanging-out in the long Laguna Bar, where classic cocktails are served alongside those with a twist (Strawberry Caipiroska, Cider ‘n’ Black – a lethal brew of vodka, Chambord, apple and lime juice topped off with Magners Cider), they’re dining in the spacious restaurant, which has picked up some AA recommendations of its own. It’s all very Abercrombie & Fitch, with ‘meeja’ boys and PR girls, and if it’s good enough for the locals, then it’s good enough for us.

Call me greedy, but I’m glad the locals (or anybody else for that matter) weren’t lounging in the next-door Laguna Spa, with its futuristic stainless-steel swimming pool. Hotel guests have free access and can easily alternate between the warm-tea temperature of the pool and the adjacent steam room, complete with a discrete constellation of twinkling ceiling lights.

My own stay fell on the day of an international rugby match between Wales and Australia and the whole city was, let us say, preoccupied – this is, after all, the country’s long-standing national obsession. I took the opportunity to do some obsessing of my own and headed to Cardiff’s famous Arcades>/b>. Not the kind which contain fruit machines and bags of greasy chips, you understand, but which offer retail therapy of the more interesting and independent kind.

No-one’s quite sure how generic the St David’s 2’s shops will be (though John Lewis will shine in a city bereft of decent department stores), but thankfully the ornate covered lanes dating from the Victorian and Edwardian period will survive the redevelopment. Which means establishments like Woodies in Morgan’s Arcade (designer togs from Paul Smith, Evisu, Patrick Cox and Jack & Jones, among others) and Wally’s Deli (stock up on Provolone and delicious Welsh cheese laced with horseradish and parsley) in the Royal Arcade are safe – for now. Whether you want funky, cartoonish underwear from Paul Frank (The M Store), natty T-shirts (Rather Not Say) or 60s’ flares and knits (The Wardrobe), the arcades are ready to supply - rumour has it you might even bump into Charlotte Church browsing casually through the racks. No doubt she’ll eventually end up at the Cardiff Antiques Centre (Royal Arcade) where, among the antiquities, you can find signed autographs of Frank Sinatra and Clark Gable at £750 a piece (way more expensive than Sophia Loren – a bargain at £125).

Once you’ve maxed out the credit card, you can hit Bute Terrace and Charles Street where Cardiff’s gay scene congregates. Venues include the Golden Cross Pub, a former sailor’s bar popular during the coal boom, which has now been converted into an unpretentious local pub, complete with strippers and drag.

That’s the essence of Cardiff. For all its newly chic establishments, award-winning dining opportunities and potential for celebrity spotting, the city’s feet remain firmly on the ground. It may resemble LA on the TV, but it hasn’t lost the plot just yet.

Accommodation
Park Plaza, Cardiff: Tel 029 20 20 111 101 or log onto www.parkplazacardiff.com.