Cardiff Totally Explained

Everything about Cardiff totally explained

Cardiff (}}, }}) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It is Wales's major commercial, sporting, tourism, transport, media and political centre. According to recent local government estimates, the population of the unitary authority area is 317,500.
The city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan (and later South Glamorgan). Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area, including Dinas Powys, Penarth and Radyr. It was a small town until the early 19th century and came to prominence as a major port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed capital of Wales in 1955. Since the 1990s Cardiff has seen significant development with a new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay which contains the new Welsh Assembly Building, and the city centre is currently undergoing a major redevelopment. International sporting venues include the Millennium Stadium (Rugby and Football) and Sophia Gardens (Cricket).
Cardiff is home to the biggest media sector in the United Kingdom outside London, being home to a number of television studios and radio stations, such as the BBC, ITV, HTV, S4C as well as independent broadcasters.

History

Origins of the name

The name Cardiff is probably an Anglicisation of the Welsh name "Caerdydd". There is some uncertainty concerning the origin of "Caerdydd", although most modern experts believe that "Dydd" or "Diff" was a modification of "Taff", the river on which Cardiff Castle stands. "Cardiff" then means "the fort on the river Taff" (in Welsh the T mutates to D). According to a leading modern authority on toponymy, the Welsh pronunciation of "Caerdyff" as "Caerdydd" shows the colloquial alternation of Welsh "-f" and "-dd".
Others favour a link with Aulus Didius Gallus, as it's known that the Romans established a fort in Cardiff when he was governor of the nearby province, in which case Cardiff might mean "the Fort of Didius". Slaters Commercial Directory states that the town was first named Caerdidi (after Didius), then became corrupted into Caer-Taffe (meaning Fort on the Taff), then Caerdaff, then Cardiff.

Roman period to the Middle Ages

The history of what is now Cardiff began with a Roman fort on the site, built in 75 CE. As Roman rule in Britannia ended near the start of the 5th century the fort was abandoned. The castle was substantially altered and extended during the Victorian period by John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, and the architect William Burges. Original Roman work can, however, still be distinguished in the wall facings.
Soon a little town grew up in the shadow of the castle, made up primarily of settlers from England. Cardiff had a population of between 1,500 and 2,000 in the Middle Ages, a relatively normal size for a Welsh town in this period. By the end of the 13th century, Cardiff was the only town in Wales with a population exceeding 2,000, but it was relatively small compared to most other notable towns in the Kingdom of England.
Cardiff was a busy port in the Middle Ages, in 1327, it was declared a Staple port During the Second English Civil War, St. Fagans just to the west of the town, played host to the Battle of St. Fagans. The battle, between a Royalist rebellion and a New Model Army detachment, was a decisive victory for the Parliamentarians and allowed Oliver Cromwell to conquer Wales. In the 1790s a racecourse, printing press, bank and coffee room all opened, and Cardiff gained a stagecoach service to London. Despite these improvements, Cardiff's position in the Welsh urban hierarchy had declined over the 18th century. Iolo Morgannwg called it "an obscure and inconsiderable place", and the 1801 census found the population to be only 1,870, making Cardiff only the twenty-fifth largest town in Wales, well behind Merthyr and Swansea.

Building of the docks to modern Cardiff

In 1793, John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute was born. He would spend his life building the Cardiff docks and would later be called "the creator of modern Cardiff". Cardiff therefore celebrated two important anniversaries in 2005. The Encyclopedia of Wales notes that the decision to recognise the city as the capital of Wales "had more to do with the fact that it contained marginal Conservative constituencies than any reasoned view of what functions a Welsh capital should have". Although the city hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1958, Cardiff only became a centre of national administration with the establishment of the Welsh Office in 1964, which later prompted the created of various other public bodies such as the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Development Agency, most of which were headquartered in Cardiff.
   The East Moors Steelworks closed in 1978 and Cardiff lost population during the 1980s, consistent with a wider pattern of counter urbanisation in Britain. However, it recovered and was one of the few cities (outside London) where population grew during the 1990s. During this period the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was promoting the redevelopment of south Cardiff; an evaluation of the regeneration of Cardiff Bay published in 2004 concluded that the project had "reinforced the competitive position of Cardiff" and "contributed to a massive improvement in the quality of the built environment", although it had failed "to attract the major inward investors originally anticipated".
   In the 1999 devolution referendum, Cardiff voters rejected the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales by 55.4% to 44.2% on a 47% turnout, which Denis Balsom partly ascribed to a general preference in Cardiff and some other parts of Wales for a 'British' rather than exclusively 'Welsh' identity. The relative lack of support for the Assembly locally, and difficulties between the Welsh Office and Cardiff Council in acquiring the original preferred venue, Cardiff City Hall, encouraged other local authorities to bid to house the Assembly. However, the Assembly eventually located at Crickhowell House in Cardiff Bay in 1999; in 2005, a new debating chamber on an adjacent site, designed by Richard Rogers, was opened.
   The city was county town of Glamorgan until the council reorganisation in 1974 paired Cardiff and the now Vale of Glamorgan together as the new county of South Glamorgan. Further local government restructuring in 1996 resulted in Cardiff city's district council becoming a unitary authority, the City and County of Cardiff, with the addition of Creigiau and Pentyrch.
   On 1 March 2004, Cardiff was granted Fairtrade City status.

Governance

Cardiff is host to the National Assembly for Wales, which is situated in Cardiff Bay. The building which is now known as the Senedd (Welsh for Legislature, Parliament or Senate) was opened on 1 March 2006, by The Queen. The executive and civil servants of the Welsh Assembly Government are based in Cardiff's Cathays Park while the Assembly Members, the Assembly Parliamentary Service and Ministerial support staff are based in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff Council is based at County Hall in Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff Bay.
Cardiff elects 4 AMs to the Welsh Assembly and 4 MPs to the UK Parliament. There is also an electoral region for Cardiff, South Wales Central, that provides top-up seats to parties in the Assembly. Cardiff is part of the Wales constituency in European Parliament elections.

Local government

Since local government reorganisation in 1996, Cardiff has been governed by The City and County Council of Cardiff. Voters elect 75 councillors every four years, with the next elections due to be held in 2012.
Since the 2004 local elections, no individual political party has held a majority on Cardiff County Council. The Liberal Democrats have 35 councillors and have formed a minority administration, the Conservatives have 17, Labour have 13, Plaid Cymru have 7 and three councillors sit as Independents. The Leader of the Council, Cllr Rodney Berman, is from the Liberal Democrats.

National Assembly for Wales

The National Assembly for Wales has been based in Cardiff Bay since its formation in 1999. Cardiff elects 4 constituency Assembly Members (AMs) to the Assembly, with the individual constituencies for the Assembly being the same as for the UK Parliament. All of the city's residents have an extra vote for the South Wales Central region which increases proportionality to the Assembly. The most recent Welsh Assembly elections were held on 3 May 2007.

Political representation

Cardiff is presently split into four parliamentary constituencies which form the electoral basis for elections to the United Kingdom Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales.
The constituencies and their representatives are:

Cardiff Central: MP Jenny Willott, AM Jenny Randerson (Both Liberal Democrat)
Cardiff North: MP Julie Morgan (Labour), AM Jonathan Morgan (Conservative)
Cardiff South and Penarth: MP Alun Michael, AM Lorraine Barrett (Both Labour)
Cardiff West: MP Kevin Brennan, AM Rhodri Morgan (Both Labour)

The South Wales Central Assembly Region elects four Assembly Members to serve the area covered by Cardiff, Rhondda-Cynon-Taf and the Vale of Glamorgan local authority areas. These are currently:

David Melding (Conservative)

Andrew R. T. Davies (Conservative)

Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru)

Christopher Franks (Plaid Cymru) Famous politicians who have represented Cardiff constituencies include:

Lord Callaghan

George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy

International consulates

A total of thirty countries have a diplomatic presence in Cardiff. Many of these nations, such as Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Canada, Thailand and the Czech Republic are represented by honourary consulates. The Republic of Ireland has a permanent consulate, and the British Embassy of the United States operates a satellite office.

Geography

Cardiff is a relatively flat city bounded by hills on the outskirts to the east, north and west. Its geographic features were influential in its development as the world's largest coal port, most notably its proximity and easy access to the coal fields of the south Wales valleys.
   Cardiff is built on reclaimed marshland on a bed of Triassic stones; this reclaimed marshland stretches from Chepstow to the Ely Estuary, which is the natural boundary of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Triassic landscapes are usually shallow and low-lying which accounts and explains Cardiff's flatness. The classic Triassic marl, sand and conglomerate rocks are used predominantly throughout Cardiff as building materials. Many of these Triassic rocks have a purple complexion, especially the coastal marl found near Penarth. One of the Triassic rocks used in Cardiff is "Radyr Stone", a freestone which as it name suggests is quarried in the Radyr district. Cardiff has also imported some materials for buildings: Devonian sandstones (the Old Red Sandstone) from the Brecon Beacons has been used. Most famously, the buildings of Cathays Park, the civic centre in the centre of the city, are built of Portland stone which was imported from Dorset. A widely used building stone in Cardiff is the surreal yellow-grey Liassic limestone rock of the Vale of Glamorgan, including the very rare "Sutton Stone", a conglomerate of lias limestone and carboniferous limestone that is, apart from Radyr Stone, the only free-stone in south-east Wales (freestones can be cut to a perfectly smooth surface). The yellowish complexion of the lias limestone used mainly in the city centre gives Cardiff an unusually sunny, light and breezy complexion for a city in Britain.
   Cardiff is bordered to the west by the rural district of the Vale of Glamorgan, which is also known as The Garden of Cardiff, to the east by the city of Newport, to the north by the South Wales Valleys and to the south by the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel. The River Taff winds through the centre of the city and together with the River Ely flows into the freshwater lake of Cardiff Bay. A third river, the Rhymney flows through the east of the city entering directly into the Severn Estuary.
   Cardiff is situated near the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, stretching westward from Penarth and Barry (which are commuter towns of Cardiff), with its striped yellow-blue Jurassic "lias" limestone cliffs that thrust outwards towards the Bristol Channel. The Glamorgan coast is the only part of the Celtic Sea that has exposed Jurassic (blue lias) geology. This west facing stretch of coast, which takes the brunt of brutal Atlantic westerlies and has reefs, sandbanks and serrated cliffs aplenty (like Cornwall) was a ship graveyard during the age of sail; ships sailing up to Cardiff during the industrial era often never made it as far as Cardiff as most were wrecked around this hostile coastline during brutal west/south-westerly gales. Consequently, just like its Celtic cousin in Cornwall, smuggling, deliberate shipwrecking and attacks on ships became a way of life for many people living in the small coastal villages of the Vale.

Cityscape

Penylan, Plasnewydd, Gabalfa, Roath, Cathays, Adamsdown and Splott ward on the north and east of the city centre, and Butetown, Grangetown, Riverside and Canton to the south and west. The inner-city areas to the south of the A4161 road known as the "Southern Arc" are, with the exception of affluent and trendy Cardiff Bay, some of the poorest districts of Wales with low levels of economic activity and high ethnic minority populations. On the other hand Gabalfa, Plasnewydd and Cathays north of the 'arc' have very large student populations, and Pontcanna north of Riverside and alongside Canton is a favourite for young professionals and media types. Penylan which lies to the north east side of Roath Park is an affluent area popular with those with older children and the retired.
"Suburban Cardiff" can be broken down into three distinct areas. To the west lie Ely, Caerau and Fairwater which contain some of the largest housing estates in the United Kingdom. With the exception of some of the outlying privately built estates at Michaelston Super Ely and 1930s developments near Waun-Gron Road, this is an economically disadvantaged area with high numbers of unemployed households. Culverhouse Cross is a more affluent western area of the city. Radyr, Llandaff, Llandaff North, Whitchurch & Tongwynlais, Rhiwbina, Heath, Llanishen, Lisvane, and Cyncoed which lie in an arc from the north west to the north east of the centre can be considered the main middle class suburbs of the city. In particular, Cyncoed, Radyr and Lisvane contain some of the most expensive housing in Wales. Further to the east lie the wards of Pontprennau & Old St Mellons, Rumney, Pentwyn, Llanrumney and Trowbridge. The latter three are again largely of public housing stock, although new private housing is being built in Trowbridge in considerable number. Pontprennau is the newest 'suburb' of Cardiff, whilst Old St Mellons has a history going back to the Norman Conquest in the 11th century.
To the north west of the city lies a region that may be called "Rural Cardiff" containing the villages of St. Fagans, Creigiau, Pentyrch, Tongwynlais and Gwaelod-y-garth. St. Fagans, home to the Museum of Welsh Life, is protected from further development.

Climate

Cardiff has a temperate climate where summers and winters are generally mild. More specifically Cardiff has an oceanic climate, with prevailing winds blowing in from the south-west over the Atlantic Ocean.
Cardiff has a relatively dry climate compared with most of Wales, with an average rainfall of 1,065 millimetres (41.9 in). It is also a relatively mild city, with an average January temperature of and an average July temperature of

Demography

Vision of Britain

except *,
which refers to the local authority
area and is estimated by the
Office for National Statistics

Cardiff's population is growing. The local authority area had an estimated population of more than 317,500 in 2006, compared to a 2001 Census figure of 305,353. According to Census 2001 data, Cardiff was the 14th largest settlement in the United Kingdom, and the 21st largest urban area.
Official estimates derived from the census regarding the city's total population have been disputed. The city council has published two articles that argue the 2001 census seriously under reports the population of Cardiff and, in particular, the ethnic minority population of some inner city areas.
Cardiff has a ethnically diverse population due to its past trading connections, post-war immigration and the large numbers of foreign students who attend university in the city. The ethnic make-up of Cardiff's population at the time of the 2001 census was: 91.6% white, 2% mixed race, 4% South Asian, 1.3% Black, 1.2% Other ethnic origin. According to a report published in 2005, over 30,000 people from an ethnic minority live in Cardiff, around 8.4% of the city's total - many of these communities live in Butetown, where ethnic minorities make up around a third of the total population. This diversity, and especially that of the city's long-established African and Arab communities, has been celebrated in a number of cultural exhibitions and events, along with a number of books which have been published on this subject.

Religion

Since 1922 Cardiff has included the suburban cathedral 'village' of Llandaff, whose bishop is currently Archbishop of Wales. There is also a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city. Since 1916 Cardiff has been the seat of a Catholic archbishop, but there appears to have been a fall in the estimated Catholic population, with estimated numbers in 2006 being around 25,000 less than in 1980.. Likewise, the Jewish population of the city has also appeared to have fallen - there are currently two synagogues in Cardiff, one in Cyncoed and one in Moira Terrace, as opposed to seven at the turn of the 20th century. There are a significant number of nonconformist chapels, an early-20th century Greek Orthodox church and eleven mosques.
   In the 2001 census 66.9% of the city's population described themselves as Christian, below the Welsh and UK average, while 3.7% described themselves as Muslim, significantly above the Welsh average but in line with the UK average. The proportion of people declaring themselves to be Hindu, Sikh and Jewish were all considerably higher than the Welsh averages, but less than the UK figures. 18.8% stated they'd no religion, while 8.6% didn't state a religion.
   Cardiff has one of the longest-established Muslim populations in the UK, started by Yemeni sailors who settled in the city during the 19th century. The first mosque in the UK (on the site of what is now known as the Al-Manar Islamic Centre) opened in 1860 in the Cathays district of Cardiff. Cardiff is now home to over 11,000 Muslims from a large variety of different nationalities and backgrounds.
   The city has been home to a sizable Hindu community since Indian immigrants settled there during the 1950s and 1960s. The first Hindu temple in the city was opened in Grangetown on April 6 1979 on the site of an abandoned printing press (which itself was the former site of a synagogue). The 25th anniversary of the temple's founding was celebrated in September 2007 with a parade of over 3000 people through the city centre, including Hindus from across the United Kingdom and members of Cardiff's other religious communities. Today, there are over 2000 Hindus in Cardiff, worshipping at three temples across the city.
   Industry has played a major part in Cardiff's development for many centuries. The main catalyst for its transformation from a small town into a big city was the demand for coal required in making iron and later steel, brought to the sea by packhorse from Merthyr Tydfil. This was first achieved by the construction of a long canal from Merthyr (510 feet above sea-level) to the Taff Estuary at Cardiff. Eventually the Taff Vale Railway replaced the canal barges and massive marshalling yards sprang up as new docks were developed in Cardiff - all prompted by the soaring world-wide demand for coal from the South Wales valleys.
   At its peak, Cardiff's port, known as Tiger Bay, became the busiest port in the world and - for some time - the world's most important coal port. In the years leading up to the First World War, more than 10 million tonnes of coal was exported annually from Cardiff. In 1907, Cardiff's Coal Exchange was the first host to a business deal for a million pounds Sterling.
   Today, Cardiff is the principal finance and business services centre in Wales, and as such there's a strong representation of finance and business services in the local economy. This sector, combined with the Public Administration, Education and Health sectors, have accounted for around 75% of Cardiff's economic growth since 1991. The city was recently placed seventh overall in the top 50 European cities in the fDI 2008 Cities of the Future list published by the Foreign Direct Invester (FDI) magazine, and also ranked seventh in terms of attracting foreign investment. A number of notable companies, such as Legal & General, Admiral Insurance, HBOS, Zurich, ING Direct, The AA, Principality Building Society, 118118, British Gas, Brains, SWALEC Energy and BT, all operate large national or regional headquarters and contact centres in the city, some of them based in Cardiff's office towers such as Capital Tower and Brunel House. Other major employers include NHS Wales and the National Assembly for Wales.
Cardiff is the one of the most popular tourist destination cities in the United Kingdom, with one survey recording just under 12 million visitors in 2006. One result of this is that one in five employees in Cardiff are based in the distribution, hotels and restaurants sector, highlighting the growing retail and tourism industries in the city. A major £675 million regeneration programme for Cardiff's St. David's Centre is currently underway which, when completed in 2009, will provide a total of of shopping space, making it one of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom.
   Cardiff is home to the Welsh media and the UK's largest film, TV & multimedia sector outside London with BBC Wales, S4C and ITV Wales all having studios in the city.

Millennium Stadium	The Senedd building	Cardiff Castle	Llandaff Cathedral

Wales Millennium Centre	Cardiff City Hall	The National Museum	Cardiff University

Castles

Complementing Cardiff Castle is a second castle north of the city, called Castell Coch (Welsh: "Red Castle"). The current castle is an elaborately decorated Victorian folly designed by Burges for the Marquess and built in the 1870s. However, the Victorian castle stands on the footings of a much older medieval castle possibly built by Ifor Bach, a regional baron with links to Cardiff Castle also. The exterior has become a popular location for film and television productions.
Situated on the narrowest part of the south Wales coastal plain, Cardiff had a crucial strategic importance in the wars between the Normans (who had occupied lowland Wales) and the Welsh who maintained their hold on the uplands. As a result Cardiff claims to have the largest concentration of castles of any city in the world. As well as Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch, the remains of Twmpath Castle, the Llandaff Bishop's Palace and Saint Fagans Castle are still in existence, whilst the site of Treoda (or Whitchurch Castle) has now been built over.

Cardiff Castle North Gate	Cardiff Castle Keep	Castell Coch	St Fagans Castle

Culture and recreation

Cardiff has a varied culture, with sites varying from the historical Cardiff Castle and out of town Castell Coch to the more modern Wales Millennium Centre and Cardiff Bay. Cardiff was a finalist in the European Capital of Culture 2008. In recent years Cardiff has grown in stature as a tourist destination, with recent accolades including Cardiff being voted the eighth favourite UK city by readers of the Guardian and the city being listed as one of the top 10 destinations in the UK on the official British tourist boards website Visit Britain.. Finally US travel guide Frommers have listed Cardiff as one of 13 top destinations worldwide for 2008.

Language

Cardiff has a chequered linguistic history with Welsh, English, Latin and Norse dominating at different times. Although it was the Romans who established the "castle on the Taff" it was the Vikings who began developing the maritime trade from which the town (later to become a city) was to derive its prosperity. The Vikings – who controlled the Bristol Channel – used Cardiff as a raiding base, a port and a trading post. Many street-names in Cardiff are of Viking origin including Dumballs Road and the oldest street in the city, Womanby Street. Womanby Street is a corruption of the original Norse name Humandaby Street. Welsh was the majority language in Cardiff from the 13th century until the city's explosive growth in Victorian times. As late as 1850, five of the twelve Anglican churches within the current city boundaries conducted their services exclusively in Welsh, while only two worshipped exclusively in English.
Aided by Welsh-medium education and migration from other parts of Wales, the number of Welsh speakers in Cardiff rose by 14,451 between 1991 and 2001; Welsh is now spoken by 11% of Cardiffians. The highest percentage of Welsh speakers is in Pentyrch, where 15.9% of the population speak the language.
In additional to English and Welsh, the diversity of Cardiff's population (including foreign students) means that a large number of languages are spoken within the city. One study has found that Cardiff has speakers of at least 94 languages, with Somali, Urdu, Bengali and Arabic being the most commonly spoken foreign languages.

Attractions

Cardiff is home to Cardiff Castle, the National Assembly for Wales, St. David's Hall

, the National Museum and Gallery, and Cathays Park (including municipal buildings modelled on those in New Delhi), and the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral

. The Welsh National Opera moved into the Wales Millennium Centre in November 2004. Cardiff Castle is a major tourist attraction in the city and is situated in the heart of the city centre, near the main shopping area of Queen Street and St. Mary's Street. The National History Museum at St Fagans in Cardiff is a large open air museum housing dozens of buildings from throughout Welsh history that have been moved to the site in Cardiff.
Other major tourist attractions are the Cardiff Bay regeneration sites which include the recently opened Wales Millennium Centre and the National Assembly for Wales and many other cultural and sites of interest including the Cardiff Bay Barrage and the famous Coal Exchange. The New Theatre was founded in 1906 and completely refurbished in the 1980s. Until the opening of the Wales Millennium Centre in 2004, it was the premier venue in Wales for touring theatre and dance companies, and is located in the city centre.
Other venues which are popular for gigs and sporting events include Cardiff International Arena, St David's Hall and the Millennium Stadium and the city is often the only place in Wales chosen by major touring bands and singers in which to perform.

Festivals

The Big Weekend Festival is held annually in late July/August in the city centre and plays host to a number of free musical performances (from artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Cerys Matthews, the Fun Loving Criminals, Soul II Soul and The Magic Numbers), fairground rides and cultural events such as a Children's Festival that takes place in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. The annual Cardiff Festival claims to be the UK's largest free outdoor festival, attracting over 250,000 visitors in 2007.
   Cardiff hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1883, 1899, 1938, 1960 and 1978, and is set to host it again in 2008. Cardiff is unique in Wales in having two permanent stone circles used by the Gorsedd of Bards during Eisteddfodau. The original circle stands in Gorsedd Gardens in front of the National Museum while its 1978 replacement is situated in Bute Park.
   Every other year, Cardiff plays host to the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a world renowned event on the opera calendar.
   The city now hosts The Cardiff Design Festival and began showcasing the best of Welsh design during the summer of 2005. Since then the festival has grown into a diverse range of designers exhibiting their wares at the 2006 portable exhibition.
   Cardiff also hosts the Swn festival, a multiple venue city centre festival in the vein of south by southwest or the camden crawl, curated by Huw Stevens, BBC Radio 1 and Radio Cymru DJ.
   The Cardiff Chinese New Year Celebrations, organised by Cardiff Chinese Community Services, are held annually at the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay.

Parks

Cardiff is known for its extensive parkland, with parks and other such green spaces covering around 10% of the city's total area. Cardiff's main park, Bute Park (which was formerly the castle grounds) extends northwards from the top of one of Cardiff's main shopping street (Queen Street); when combined with the adjacent Llandaff Fields and Pontcanna Fields to the north west it produces a massive open space skirting the River Taff. Other popular parks include Roath Park in the north, donated to the city by the 3rd Marquess of Bute in 1887 and which includes a very popular boating lake; Victoria Park, Cardiff's first official park; and Thompson's Park, formerly home to an aviary removed in the 1970s.
In 2006 Cardiff won the prestigious Entente Florale award for large cities due to the beauty of its parks and floral displays.

Music and nightlife

The Cardiff music scene is established and wide-ranging. It is the home to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera. It has produced several leading acts itself and, as a capital city, has acted as a springboard for numerous Welsh bands to go and become famous both nationally and internationally. These include Charlotte Church, The Automatic, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals, Jem, Funeral for a Friend, Lostprophets, Bullet for My Valentine, Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, The Oppressed, Kids In Glass Houses, Los Campesinos, The Hot Puppies, Pagan Wanderer Lu, Budgie, and Shakin' Stevens among others.
Cardiff has a strong nightlife and is home to many bars, pubs and clubs. Most clubs and bars are situated in the city centre, especially St. Mary's Street, and more recently Cardiff Bay has built up a strong night scene, with many modern bars & restaurants. The Brewery Quarter on St. Mary's Street is a recently developed venue for bars and restaurant with a central courtyard. Charles Street is also a popular part of the city.

Shopping

Cardiff is one of the top ten retail destinations in the UK, However, there have been a number of issues relating to city centre shopping, most recently the cost of parking in the city centre and the experimental banning of private cars on St. Mary's Street. Both have been heavily criticised by some sectors of the media, public and retailers.

Walks

In addition to the many parks, Cardiff has walks of special interest for tourists and ramblers alike, such as the Centenary Walk, which runs for within Cardiff city centre. It passes through many of Cardiff's landmarks and historic buildings.
The Taff Trail, which is a walking and cycle path running for between Cardiff Bay and Brecon. It runs through Bute Park, Sophia Gardens and many other green areas within Cardiff. It is possible to cycle the entire distance of the Trail almost completely off-road, as it largely follows the River Taff and many of the old disused railways of the Glamorganshire valleys.

Media

Cardiff is the Welsh base for the national television broadcasters (BBC, ITV and S4C) along with Capital TV, a locally-based free-to-air television station serving the city on a Restricted Service Licence.
The main local newspaper, the South Wales Echo and the national paper the Western Mail are based in the Western Mail and Echo building in the city centre. Capital Times, Cardiff Post and the South Wales edition of Metro are also based and distributed in the city. There are also a number of magazines based in the city including Jazz UK, Buzz magazine, Primary Times and a monthly Welsh language paper called Y Dinesydd (The Citizen). Red Dragon FM (based in the Red Dragon Centre located in Cardiff Bay) is the main radio station serving South Wales. A number of other radio stations also serve the city and are based in Cardiff, including Real Radio, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, Rookwood Sound, Radio Glamorgan and Xpress Radio. Xfm started broadcasting from Cardiff on 29 November 2007, making the South Wales region its fourth dedicated area.

Use in media

Cardiff, along with London, is one of the most-visited locations in the new series of Doctor Who, due to the programme being produced by BBC Wales there. The spin-off Torchwood is set exclusively in Wales, with all but one episode being mainly set in Cardiff. In both programmes, a "time rift" transects the city, with specific focus on Roald Dahl Plass and the Millennium Centre. In "Boom Town" and "Utopia", the rift's recent activity is used to fuel the TARDIS, while in Torchwood, the eponymous secret government agency is based under the paving. Parts of "Gavin and Stacey", "The Worst Witch", "Tracey Beaker" and other popular television series are also filmed within Cardiff.
Cardiff was referenced by Tom Jones in the Tim Burton film Mars Attacks! and was the setting for several scenes in the film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Cardiff is also the birthplace of Dalek creator Terry Nation and popular children's author Roald Dahl, for whom the plaza outside the Millennium Centre is named.

Sport

The city has a regional rugby union team, the Cardiff Blues, who play at their Cardiff Arms Park stadium. The city's Cardiff rugby league side is the Cardiff Demons. Cardiff also has several amateur rugby clubs.
   Cardiff has a main professional football club, Cardiff City F.C., nicknamed the Bluebirds, who currently play in the English Coca-Cola Football League Championship. Their present stadium is Ninian Park, however a new stadium is currently under construction, which is due to be opened in 2009, and will be shared with the Cardiff Blues. Cardiff has numerous smaller clubs who play in the Welsh Football System.
   Cardiff also has a county cricket side, Glamorgan CCC, who play at the city centre's Sophia Gardens ground, and will undergo a multi-million pound improvement in time to host a Test Match as part of The Ashes in 2009, several test matches and internationals will be hosted in Cardiff, beating Manchester in the run up to hold the test and international matches. It is said these test matches could bring up to 50million pounds to the Capital by 2020, this is another sign Cardiff is becoming a major International city.
   Cardiff's professional ice-hockey team, the Cardiff Devils, play in their temporary arena in Cardiff Bay, and the capital is the principal home of the sport of Welsh or British Baseball, and hosts the annual England-Wales international game every four years, usually at Roath Park.
   Cardiff has put a bid to host the 2018 commonwealth game. The Wales Empire Swimming Pool was later demolished in 1998 to make way for the Welsh national stadium, the Millennium Stadium. The replacement pool, the Cardiff International Pool was opened on 12 January 2008 in Cardiff Bay as part of the International Sports Village.
   The city also features an international sporting venue, the 74,500 capacity Millennium Stadium, where the Welsh rugby team and the Welsh national football team plays. The Millennium Stadium also doubles up as a venue for other concerts and events such as motorsport's World Rally Championship as part of Wales Rally GB, with the first ever indoor special stages of the World Rally Championship being held at the Millennium Stadium in September 2005. It has continued to host this annual event.

Transport

Cardiff is the major transport hub in Wales and is the focus for many arterial road and rail routes that connect the city to the rest of Wales and England.

Road

The M4 is the principal motorway in the region that connects Cardiff with Bridgend, Swansea and Carmarthen in the west, and Bristol, Swindon, Reading and London in the east. Cardiff is served by junctions 30 to 33 inclusive of the M4, plus junction 29a of the A48(M). The A470 is another major road within the city that provides an important link with the Heads of the Valleys road, Mid and North Wales. The A4232 (also known as the Peripheral Distributor Road or PDR) when completed, will form part of the Cardiff ring-road system along with the M4 motorway between junctions 30 and 33.
As with many other cities car traffic has caused congestion problems and as such the council has designated bus lanes to improve transport into and out of the city centre. The council has also revealed plans to introduce congestion charging, as in London, but only once there has been significant investment in the city's public transport network.
There are several road and rail bridges that cross the River Taff in Cardiff. These include the Clarence Road Bridge, a comparatively modern bridge which replaced a swing bridge. The original bridge was named after the Duke of Clarence.

Cycling and walking

Much of Cardiff's central shopping zone is pedestrianised, and further pedestrianisation is planned as part of the current St David's 2 regeneration scheme.
The Taff Trail runs for 55 miles (88 km) alongside the River Taff, from Cardiff Bay to the market town of Brecon in the Brecon Beacons National Park. On Sundays in summer the Beacons Bike Bus enables cyclists to take their bikes into the Beacons and then ride back to Cardiff along the Trail.

Bus

See Also: Cardiff Central Bus Station Cardiff has a comprehensive bus network, with council-owned Cardiff Bus providing the vast majority of routes in the city and as well as Newport, Penarth, Barry, Cardiff International Airport and Llantwit Major. Veolia Transport Cymru and Stagecoach in South Wales also provide services in the city. Cardiff Bus has introduced "bendy buses" on the popular 17 and 18 routes to Canton, Ely and Caerau and on the Cardiff Bay route. Its hub is Cardiff Central Bus Station. National Express provides direct services to most cities in the UK, including high frequency services to nearby Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil, as well as major English and Scottish cities. Megabus also operates frequent discounted services to London.

Railways

Cardiff has a suburban rail system under the name of Valley Lines, which is operated by Arriva Trains Wales. There are eight lines which serve 20 stations in the city, 26 in the wider urban area (including Taffs Well, Penarth and Dinas Powys) and more than 60 in the South Wales valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan. Cardiff Central railway station is the largest railway station in Wales with 7 platforms, and one of the busiest in the UK. It provides direct services to major cities such as Newport, Bristol, Birmingham, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Southampton, Portsmouth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as serving as an interchange for services from West Wales. There is also a regular shuttle service to Holyhead (for ferries to Ireland) and Wrexham in North Wales. Cardiff Queen Street railway station is the second busiest in Wales and is the hub for routes via the Valley Lines services that connect the South Wales valleys and the Cardiff suburbs with the city centre. Its location at the eastern end of the city centre makes it convenient for commuters and shoppers alike. This station also provides services to Cardiff Bay, these don't call at Central.
The council is investigating converting the Valley Lines network into a light rail tram network and extending it in the near future.

Water

Two waterbus firms operate half-hourly services from Bute Park in the city centre to Cardiff Bay and onwards to Penarth. Throughout the summer (March to October), boats also depart from Cardiff Bay to take visitors to Flat Holm Island.
The Paddle Steamer Waverley and MV Balmoral sail from Britannia Quay (in Roath Basin) to various destinations in the Bristol Channel.

Air

Cardiff and South & West Wales are served by Cardiff International Airport (CWL), the only international airport in Wales. It provides links domestically and internationally. It is situated in the village of Rhoose, west of the city. There are regular bus services linking the airport with the Cardiff Central Bus Station as well as a train service from Rhoose Cardiff International Airport railway station to Cardiff Central.

Education

Universities and colleges

Cardiff is home to four major institutions of higher education: Cardiff University, founded by Royal Charter in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, is a "red brick" university and member of the Russell Group of leading research led universities; University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) gained university status in 1992; The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is a conservatoire established in 1949 and is based in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. The University of Glamorgan has a Cardiff campus, Atrium, which is home to the Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries. The total number of higher education students in the city is around 30,000. The city also has two further education colleges: Coleg Glan Hafren and St. David's College, although further education is offered at most high schools in the city.

Schools

Cardiff has eighty-six state primary schools (two bilingual, ten Welsh medium), eleven infant schools, ten junior schools and twenty state secondary schools, of which two are Welsh medium. There are also a number of independent schools in the city, including Llandaff Cathedral School, Kings Monkton and Howell's School, a single-sex girls' school (until sixth form). Notable schools include Whitchurch High School (the largest in Wales), Fitzalan High School (which is one of the most multi-cultural state schools in the UK), and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, which is the largest Welsh medium secondary in the country.
As well as academic institutions, Cardiff is also home to other educational and learning organisations such as Techniquest, a hands-on science discovery centre that now has franchises throughout Wales, and is part of the Wales Gene Park in collaboration with Cardiff University, NHS Wales and the Welsh Development Agency (WDA).

International Baccalaureate Organisation

Cardiff is also home of the largest regional office of the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IB). The curriculum and assessment centre, which is responsible for overseeing the creation and grading of various IB assessments is located in Cardiff.

Health

There are seven NHS hospitals in the city.
   The University Hospital of Wales, which is also known as 'The Heath' or 'UHW', is the third largest hospital in the UK and deals with most accidents and emergencies. Llandough Hospital is located in the south of the city. The University Dental Hospital, which provides emergency dental treatment, is also located on this site.
   The city's newest hospital, St. David's Hospital (built behind the former building) is located in the Canton area and provides services for the elderly and children. Cardiff Royal Infirmary is located on Newport Road, near the city centre. The majority of this hospital was closed in 1999 but with the West Wing remaining open for clinic services, genitourinary medicine and rehabilitation treatment. Rookwood Hospital and Whitchurch Hospital are also located within the city, along with Llandaff and Velindre Hospital which is run by a separate NHS trust.
   In addition BUPA has a hospital in the city which is located in Pentwyn.

Twinning

Cardiff has twinning arrangements with:

Luhans'k, Ukraine

Pernik, Pernik Province Bulgaria

Bergen, Hordaland, Norway

Nantes, Pays de la Loire France

Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Xiamen, Fujian, China

Telecommunications

029 is the current telephone dialling code for Cardiff, having previously been 0222 and then 01222. However it's vastly misconceived (in the city but on a larger scale in South Wales) to be 02920 because initially, at the time of the new dialing code system, all numbers began with 20. Currently all newly issued numbers begin with 21.
The code includes the neighbouring towns of Penarth, Dinas Powys and Caerphilly.
The city's dialling code was changed on 22 April 2000 from 01222 to 029 in the Big Number Change along with London, Coventry, Portsmouth, Southampton and Northern Ireland in response to the rapid growth of telecommunications in the late 1990s and the impending exhaustion of numbers. This measure increased the numbers of digits in the subscriber telephone number from 6 to 8, therefore vastly increasing the possible telephone numbers available. Ofcom has allocated the range of telephone numbers from (029) 2018 0000 to (029) 2018 0999 to be used for drama purposes in television and radio. These numbers won't be allocated to telephone companies in the foreseeable future.

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