Looking back to the future on the ever-changing Hayes
THE other day, back when we were enjoying the last blast of summer-like sunshine, I wandered around The Hayes and was sad to see the board outside the Old Library saying that Milk & Sugar (or Llaeth & Sigwr) is no longer operating upstairs in this grand old building. What a shame!
Quite by chance – and since this is Cardiff – the owner of the Milk & Sugar mini-chain Tim Corrigan happened to cycle past carrying a large menu board for one of his other sites, and so I stopped him for a chat.
Given how family friendly a space it was, and how popular his cafe was with people with young kids, Tim explained that he feels particularly badly for his customers with kids who don’t have anywhere else quite like it in town to go as an alternative.
No-one can blame straight-talking Tim for calling time at the Old Library and doing what’s right for his business. Times are hard out there. I remember that for months the lift up to Milk & Sugar, that we required as we usually had a pram with us, was out of order.
That can’t have been good for business.
The 1882, Grade II-listed Old Library – a Welsh language centre since early 2016 when it opened with a £400,000 grant from Welsh Government – is also home to a Bodlon giftshop, the Cardiff Museum (previously known as The Cardiff Story), and charity Menter Caerdydd, which runs Tafwyl Festival.
Sadly, it seems to be a tough spot for attracting people in off the busy surrounding streets.
One issue, in my uneducated view, is that this wonderful building seems to hide in plain sight.
The trees around the Hayes Island Snack Bar entirely occlude the grand frontage for much of the year.
And the glass box on the east side, built to draw in passers-by for when the Old Library became Cardiff’s Centre for Visual Arts in 1999 (this itself promptly closed in 2000), needs to do more to serve its primary purpose.
This being Cardiff, we were soon joined in the street by another passerby who knew Tim.
This friendly woman used to attend Welsh language classes here.
However, these Cardiff Universityrun courses have been moved to Howell’s School.
From speaking to someone who works in the building, it seems that the language centre, known as Yr Hen Lyfrgell, no longer has staff on site.
In fact, I was told that Alder King is now managing the building. It is certainly advertising the empty space to rent.
In the meantime, Yr Hen Lyfrgell’s website is down and the telephone number no longer works.
Shocked, I asked on social media if this meant the demise of the Welsh Government’s vision for a Welsh language centre in the heart of Cardiff.
It’s very sad if this is indeed the case, and I sincerely hope not.
Cardiff should have such a centre. Perhaps it needs more help from on high?
(While I didn’t receive a great response online, a council spokesperson was soon on the blower assuring me that the building is very much open for business and hoping to attract new tenants.)
Back on the street, Gareth Lawton, owner of Fresh in Royal Arcade – the best baguettes in Cardiff, I reckon – walked by and stopped to chat.
I left Tim and Gareth talking shop and carried on wandering about The Hayes, which currently has something odd blocking its pleasant avenue between new and old libraries.
If you go down to The Hayes in the coming months you’ll not fail to see a large black steel sculpture that looks like some sort of tool for giants that was accidentally left in the street.
Some of you may remember seeing it before – back in 1972 – when Garth Evans’ “Untitled Sculpture” was installed in The Hayes (back when it was a open to vehicular traffic, of course) for six months as part of a project that saw 16 new works sited in the centres of eight UK cities.
Evans chose Cardiff because of his family’s connections to South Wales.
“I wanted to make something that I felt had a connection to the coal mining and steel making industries of South Wales,” he said.
Made of steel, as black as coal, and tool-like, his sculpture certainly got Cardiffians talking at the time.
Then it was removed and stored out of the public’s gaze in Leicestershire for nearly 50 years.
Thanks to a Chapter crowd-funded campaign supported by Art Happens with Art Fund, the strange object has been restored and returned to Cardiff till March 18, 2020. I don’t know what will happen to it then, but we certainly have room in the Bay for more art.
Speaking of The Hayes, recently we’ve been on the lookout for photos and stories of how this area of town looked prior to the new St David’s shopping centre development opened.
Can you believe it’s been 10 years? The St David’s crew asked us to help them collect content from members of the public for a gallery that will go up in the central precinct of the original St David’s between October 17 and 28, as part of 10 days of 10th birthday celebrations.
“We’ve been working with I Loves the ’Diff on an exciting project, reaching out to the people of the city to share their photos and memories,” says their marketing mogul Hywel Butcher.
“The results of the collaboration will be showcased when we unveil a gallery looking back at some of the history of the location of St David’s – from the days of the canals and trams, to retro fabulous ’80s and ’90s, through to never-seen-before images of the centre’s build, and highlights from the last 10 years.”
If you have photos of the way this part of central Cardiff looked at any point prior to 2009 and wouldn’t mind sharing them, or if you have fond memories of places and shops in the area, please let me know on hello@ilovesthediff.com