St David's

St David’s stands in the Hayes area of Cardiff’s southern city centre. It is one of the principal shopping centres in the city and the third busiest in the United Kingdom. The centre has two main parts: the original St David’s Centre and the later St David’s 2, joined by internal bridges and walkways. Four entrances open on to Queen Street, Cathedral Walk, Working Street and Hills Street. Inside, three main thoroughfares—Town Wall, Cathedral Walk and St David’s Way—link the shops and lead to St David’s Hall above. The £675 million extension turned Cardiff into one of the United Kingdom’s top five shopping destinations. It brought new stores such as John Lewis, Apple, Hollister and Victoria’s Secret to Wales for the first time. The project also created 4,500 permanent jobs and added a 55,000 square foot Central Library and 3,000 car parking spaces. In 2010 the centre won the international shopping centre of the year award, beating rivals in Portugal and Singapore. Visitors find a two-tiered mall with ninety shops on the lower level and more on the upper. The Grand Arcade and Hayes Arcade echo Cardiff’s Victorian shopping arcades. Eastside is a restaurant and café quarter on two levels, while St David’s Walk leads to the extended Debenhams store. Above the shops, Hayes Apartments offer 304 homes with private rooftop gardens. Between the library and the shopping centre stands Alliance, a 25-metre sculpture of steel and enamel that glows after dark.