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Cardiff Leasing

Did You Know?

Cardiff is also one of its newest capital cities. It officially became a city on 28 October 1904 and the capital city in 1955. Today, it’s the largest city in Wales, 11th largest city in the UK and the most important administrative, shopping, and cultural centre in the country. It’s also the headquarters for a wide array of national organizations and government departments.Cardiff Bay

Spillers Records in Cardiff is the oldest record shop in the world. Dating all the way back to 1894, it’s been in business for over 125 years. Located along the historic Morgan Arcade, the shop first specialised in phonographs, wax phonograph cylinders and shellac photograph discs.

Cardiff is known as the “City of Arcades” for good reason. It has the highest concentration of Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary indoor shopping arcades in Britain. These house over 100 independent cafes, bars and shops right in the heart of the city. Castle Arcade and High Street Arcade are two of the most famous.

In the 18th century, the Cardiff authorities fixed a chair to the end of a long piece of timber and suspended it over the water on the Taff. They forced people to sit on it as a punishment. For instance, in 1739 a woman called Elizabeth Jones was “chaired” for being “a common narrator or scandal-monger, eavesdropper and hearkened after news”.

Most people who know anything about Cardiff have heard of Cardiff Castle. Built over 2,000 years ago, it’s been occupied by everyone from the Romans to the Normans to Cardiff’s citizens during World War II.

The name Cardiff basically means 'fortified enclosure on the banks of the Taf'. It comes from the Welsh 'Caerdyf' with its two elements: Caer meaning fort, stronghold or enclosure, and Dyf, a mutation of the river name.

William I of England started building Cardiff Castle keep in 1081 and the castle has been a presence in the city for nearly 1,000 years. By the sixteenth century, trade with England, France and the Channel Islands was important, but the Industrial Revolution made the biggest mark on the city, with coal from the Welsh valleys powering industry across the world.

Famous children’s writer Roald Dahl was not only born in Cardiff, he also grew up in Llandaff. There he is also famous for slipping a dead mouse inside a jar of sweets in a sweet shop where the shopkeeper was particularly unkind to him.

A highlight of a visit to Cardiff Castle is the wall at Bute Park, which features stone carved animals. The ones with glass eyes, the lions, apes, a lynx, a bear, a wolf, a hyena and a sea lion, were all built in the late 19th century. The other six animals were added later.