Historic landmark turned eyesore to be demolished
AN ICONIC piece of Cardiff’s history that first opened more than 100 years ago is set to be demolished.
The former Gaiety cinema on City Road began life as the Gaiety Grand, decorated with a pair of domes on either side of the entrance on Roath’s thriving City Road. It opened its doors in 1912 and could seat 800 people.
Through the years, the building changed hands many times. The Gaiety cinema closed in 1961 and became a bingo hall until that closed in 1994.
A planning application was withdrawn in 1998 to turn it into a pub. Following refurbishment, it became the Spin bar and bowling alley in 2001 but in 2006, that closed, leaving the landmark to deteriorate. Squatters occupied the building in 2012.
The group, who called themselves The Gremlins, daubed the building with messages, understood
to be in response to the imprisonment of London squatter Alex Haigh, who was the first person jailed for squatting in the UK. The group posted defiant messages online on a number of activist websites.
In one message, they said: “The state tries to make people homeless, anarchists have no sympathy for the state and its lackeys.”
A planning application to turn the site into a bar and restaurant was granted in 2013. But despite a
petition being set up in 2016 to spruce up City Road and deal with derelict sites, such as the former cinema, the building has been left vacant and boarded up. Now it is set to be demolished next summer.
A notice outside reads that The MSG group has applied to Cardiff council to demolish the building on August 1, 2019.
The notice, dated October 9, reads: “The applicant has applied to the Local Planning Authority for a determination as to whether the prior approval of the authority will be required to the proposed method of demolition and any proposed restoration of the site.”
The notice is not a planning application, but related to the method of demolition. The local authority cannot prevent the building from being demolished. No planning application has been submitted for the site.
Local councillor Daniel De’Ath, who has campaigned to try to save the site, said: “The Gaiety Cinema building is a really important part of the historic fabric of the Roath area and I think it’s completely disgraceful that its absentee private owner has let it deteriorate into such an eyesore.
“My colleagues and I have had to work with the council to take enforcement action to have the condition of the building improved because it had been allowed to get into such a state.
“We’re glad that, after being abandoned for over a decade, something is now being done with the site, but we’ll be pressing for the old Gaiety Cinema building to be maintained and restored, if possible.
“Cardiff’s already lost a number of its old, characterful buildings and it’d be a huge shame if we lost yet another.”
The MSG group has been asked to comment.
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