Capitol Centre

Capitol Centre


Entrance to the Capitol Centre
Location Cardiff, Wales
Coordinates 51°28′56″N 3°10′20″W / 51.48222°N 3.17222°W / 51.48222; -3.17222Coordinates: 51°28′56″N 3°10′20″W / 51.48222°N 3.17222°W / 51.48222; -3.17222
Address Queen Street, Cardiff
Opening date 1990[1]
Owner Moorfield Group[2]
No. of stores and services 36[1]
No. of anchor tenants 3[1]
Total retail floor area 158,256 sq ft[1]
No. of floors 2[1]
Parking 420[1]
Website www.capitol-shopping-centre.co.uk

Capitol Centre (previously: Capitol Exchange Centre) is an indoor shopping centre in the city of Cardiff, Wales. Functioning as one of the city's retail malls, The building is built on the site of the former Capitol Theatre, and is situated at the eastern end of Queen Street near the Dumfries Place bus terminus and Cardiff Queen Street railway station.

Inside the Capitol Centre

It advertises itself as the premier shopping destination in Cardiff, with a focus on the higher end of women's fashion, including tenants such as, Jaeger, Dune, Phase Eight, Hobbs, Eden Park, Internacionale, Moda in Pelle and Austin Reed. It is anchored by a large H&M store, with the front of the centre being dominated by Tesco since Virgin Megastores and Zavvi ceased operations in 2009.

Other tenants of the centre include: Cafe Caribe and Soho Coffee Company both long established cafe restaurants. Pulse Cafe Bar & Nightclub is also part of the centre, albeit with a separate external entrance. Orange, 3, Halifax plc, BSkyB, Vidal Sassoon, Monsoon Accessorize, M·A·C, Boots & Sgice Electronic Cigarettes.[3]

Opened in 1990, the centre was originally built to mimic Victorian architecture which was a very popular style of design during the late 1980s and early 1990s for shopping centres; but the centre was also inspired by many of Cardiff's late 19th century Victorian arcades (much like Queens Arcade which opened in 1994 and more recently the new St. Davids centre expansion). Unfortunately this style of build dated very quickly and in 1999, the centre underwent a £10 million redevelopment, which included the refurbishment of the pedestrian areas, the removal of the food court and new entrances into the centre (although much of the original external facade still remains). It was completed in November 1999.[4]

Future developments

The centre had originally also housed a five-screen Odeon cinema up until 2001, it has reopened in December 2014 operated by Premiere Cinemas.[5][6]

There are plans to develop 164 apartments, plus retail and commercial space and additional car parking facilities at the corner of North Edward Street and Station Terrace. This would provide 50 per cent additional spaces, bringing the total car parking spaces up to 632.[2]

The scheme architects are Dobson Architects and it is expected that the new scheme could be completed by 2012.[2]

The opening of the extended St David's Shopping Centre and Council changes to road access has had a significant effect on footfall within the centre and been a major driver for the redevelopment of the shopping centre. In additions to the changes above, the redevelopment will include the complete redesign of the first floor shopping space, relocation of the existing tenants and the arrival of a major tenant to occupy the majority of the newly created space.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Capitol Shopping Centre, Cardiff". PCP. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Capitol idea is a £30m boost for complex". icWales. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  3. 1 2 "http://www.capitolshopping.co.uk/shopping". Jeff Wilson Centre Manager. Archived from the original on 9 December 2010. External link in |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Capitol Centre, Cardiff". Colman Architects. Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  5. ↑ "Lights! Camera! Action! A £1m refit will see a former Cardiff cinema brought back to life in time for Christmas". Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  6. ↑ http://cardiff.premierecinemas.co.uk/PremiereCinemasCardiff.dll/Page?PageID=0
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