St Mary Street, Cardiff

I popped into the centre of Cardiff today and got a glut of blip photo's. I like this one best which was taken above the castle main entrance and shows St Mary Street.

I took it with the Fuji camera and it looked quite arty without any processing, but I like to mess and have given it a vintage postcard look.

The street has quite a history, and for those interested it's here....

St. Mary Street is named after the 11th-century church of St Mary's, which was the largest in Cardiff until it was destroyed by the Bristol Channel floods of 1607.

Today the stretch of road is the home of a number of bars, night clubs and restaurants as well as branches of many major banks. Also fronting onto the street is Howells department store, which stretches from just after Cardiff Market to the corner of Wharton Street.

As of August 2007 the street was closed to private vehicles and only buses and taxis are allowed access to the whole street. The street is usually closed to all traffic on Friday and Saturday nights, to allow the efflux from night clubs and pubs located in that part of the street to clear. The Prince Of Wales (a J D Wetherspoon establishment) is a particular problem, both due to its high capacity, and its main frontage onto Wood Street (which stays open). At the northern end of the street is Castle Street, site of Cardiff Castle.