Cardiff remembered: Paradise Place

Paradise Place with the Taff Vale public house, Queen Street, Cardiff - c.1970s Image: Media Wales.

Written by Brian Lee

Many Cardiffians will remember Paradise Place, which used to be situated off Queen Street between England's shoe shop and the Taff Vale pub.

Some of them will also recall the Cardiff Comrades Club which used to be at the rear of the Taff Vale pub and where, it was said, Shirley Bassey performed before becoming a singing legend.

The Cardiff Borough records reveal that Paradise Place was “a narrow street off the south side of Crockherbtown, parallel with the west side of Charles Street.’’

However, Sam Allen in his Cardiff Reminiscences gives us a much better description of the Paradise Place of the 1860s.

“The name Paradise Place sounds highly poetical, and no-one today would associated that locality with the Garden of Eden, yet some of us can remember very picturesque little suburban cottages, with pretty front gardens and quite a natty little blacksmith’s shop.’

“Here, through an open window was to be seen a lady blacksmith, wielding a clumsy short-handled hammer, pounding away on a short length of white hot rail rod, about a quarter of an inch square.

“These rods were rolled especially for nail making probably at the College Works near the Cow and And Snuffers at Llandaff.’’

Incidentally, the Taff Vale pub, established in 1885 and which closed in 1977 and was demolished the following year, was just one of a number of pubs that used to be situated in Queen Street.

These included The Masons Arms, Queens Chambers, Tivoli Hotel, Victoria, Park Hotel, more popularly known as the Park Vaults, Alexandre Hotel and the Red Lion, which stood on the corner of Queen Street and Kingsway and which was still serving pints in the 1950s.

• Please send your pictures and stories to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remember, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1XR
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