October 18, 2012 
Recently you may have seen some activity happening on Cardiff’s Womanby Street? Posters being put up in shop windows, street art being added to the walls and merchandise and stalls being transported?
Well it is all part of Cardiff’s latest ‘quarter’ to hit the City Centre – this time aptly named The Cardiff Fashion Quarter. (CFQ)
The Cardiff Fashion Quarter is being organised by local creatives and features both vintage and modern fashion items, vintage furniture and retro and collectable items.
Cardiff Fashion Quarter is a new venture for independent retailers, who will showcase the latest vintage trends, contemporary fashion, homewares and furniture, photography and art.
When Blacks camping shop vacated the premises opposite Cardiff Castle – new owners Nisa only utilised the front portion of these large premises. So there was a large unused space at the back that was begging for someone else to come along and put it to good use.
Amazingly this space used to be a cinema where you can still see the curved roof, tall ceilings and imagine what life could’ve been like amongst one of the city’s vintage cinemas.
After some further ‘research’ it seems that this cinema was constructed in 1913 and was named The Castle. It was a cinema which only showed silent films and was closed in 1921. Thank’s to Dic Mortimer and some amazing information on all the old cinemas in Cardiff. Read more here:-
http://dicmortimer.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/the-last-picture-show/
Does anyone actually know anything else about this old cinema?
Some shops have already opened with others still putting the finishing touches to their displays ready for the big official launch on Saturday 20th October.
The ground floor introduces you to a variety of vintage clothing, decor, homeware and books whereas on the first floor there is much more space with people showcasing records, art, jewellery, retro furniture and collectables.
One of the first displays you see is an actual toilet, sink, floral wallpaper and one of those hand-knitted dolls that gracefully sits on your toilet rolls! (Yes that was sits!)
There truly is such a wide selection of shops and is much more broad than the ‘Fashion’ quarter title suggests. So much so that I was quite bemused to find this Jimmy Savile soap bar!
Preparations are taking place with a collaboration between street artists making the usually mundane Womanby Street come alive with some stunning pieces of art. They look amazing close up!
The Cardiff Fashion Quarter is a welcome addition to the ever changing shopping experience that Cardiff has to offer! I still haven’t found any other city that comes close to what we have here – large shopping centres, interesting arcades, local markets and now another centrepiece for local talent and creatives. Best of luck with it all.
Now there are more than four official quarters in Cardiff do we have to rename them all accordingly? 😉
DJ Leekee Online 
Nice blog Lee – I popped in there recently. Cool place, maybe needs a bit more promotion as it was quiet when I called in. Cardiff needs interesting shops like this.