Pontcanna, located close to Cardiff city centre, has blossomed into a stylish neighbourhood with much to offer families and young professionals. Smart, cool with a distinct Welsh feel, it’s home to leafy high streets with flourishing independent shops, cafes and restaurants. It’s a great place to taste local produce, from treats in the park to Michelin-starred tasting menus – Pontcanna claims Cardiff’s first.
The neighbourhood’s popularity dates to the Victorian period, when Sophia, widow of the second Marquess of Bute, financed the creation of Sophia Gardens. Large villas sprang up along the central Cathedral Road as well as the side streets, which in turn became an illustrious Edwardian area.
These houses are now gold dust – no surprise, given their backdrop of sweeping green spaces and quirky neighbourhood gems all within a 30-minute walk to Cardiff Central train station.
Here’s our guide to experience the best of Pontcanna.
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Do
Browse the local farmer’s market
Every Saturday, the courtyard on King’s Road becomes lively with vendors selling fresh local produce. Pick up some sourdough and mouth-watering pastries, organic fruit and vegetables, and Welsh cheese. Each month, the sellers are joined by Pontcanna Vintage Market, where you can pick up a one-off item.
Catch a foreign film at Chapter Art Centre
Free art exhibitions, independent film screenings and up-and-coming stand-up comedy, Chapter Art Centre is the alternative creative outlet in Pontcanna. With events including Archipelago Movement classes and a workshop exploring the ritual of communal singing as a survival mechanism, this is not your everyday community venue. The events programme and convivial cafe breathe life into the red-brick former Edwardian school building.
Spend time in historic parks
Pristine and atmospheric, the neighbourhood’s parks – like Llandaff Fields and Pontcanna Fields – are a favoured local spots for picnics, dog walking, cycling, tennis and children’s playgrounds. Enjoy a rustic pizza or a homemade sarnie from Cafe Castan – which does a roaring trade on Saturdays after Park Run – before tracing its footpath at points lined with lime trees. If Glamorgan Cricket Club is playing at home, you’ll hear cheers spill out from neighbouring Sophia Gardens, Cardiff’s international cricket venue.
Cross over Blackweir Bridge into Bute Park, home to manicured gardens, wood sculptures and a significant arboretum as well as the modern Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and several of Cardiff University’s grand buildings. Rest your legs at the Secret Garden Cafe, which serves delicious cakes and coffee and is entirely powered by solar energy.
At the opposite end of this grade II-listed green space, at the entrance to the city centre, you’ll find Cardiff Castle, which you can visit on a tour or admire from the grounds.
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Go courtside at a premier sports centre
Get stuck into the Welsh sporting culture with facilities fit for elite athletes. Show off your forehand at the bookable tennis, badminton, squash and even table tennis courts at Sport Wales National Centre. Located next to the Taff Trail walking route, it’s easy to incorporate as you meander into Cardiff city centre.
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Eat
Milkwood
Trendy spot Milkwood has the city flocking to try its simple and delicious brunch offerings. With a menu inspired by Welsh ingredients, opt for bacon, cockles and laverbread (a type of edible seaweed) on toast, or visit after dusk for bespoke cocktails designed by award-winning local bartender Alex Taylor, and pizzettes (aka small pizzas).
Bant a la Cart
This sweet neighbourhood deli is a staple on Cathedral Road, Pontcanna’s main road. Locals queue to pick up homemade options for lunch or dinner from their counter of daily soups, hot dishes, quiches and cakes.
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Elgano
Set in a Victorian terrace house, Elgano is a quaint Italian restaurant with attentive service and a relaxed ambience. A love letter to the dishes they cooked growing up in Sicily and Calabria in Southern Italy, the chefs have crafted a menu to introduce guests to those familiar flavours. Watch them prepare everything from the open kitchen over a glass of robust chianti.
Gorse
Winner of Cardiff’s first Michelin star, Gorse delivers simple but clever food in an unpretentious and intimate setting. The tasting menu showcases Welsh produce in exceptional ways, from native seaweed and Gower Salt Marsh lamb to Caws Cerwyn, a creamy Welsh cheese. With years of training under Heston Blumenthal, Welsh chef-founder Tom Walters has ditched the London pomp to bring his homeland a chilled-out fine dining experience that is a tribute to the surrounding landscapes of his beloved homeland.
Drink
Wardrobe Cafe
Slowly sip coffee and enjoy organic treats in Wardrobe Cafe’s quaint front room. With French artwork, rustic wood and an elegant piano, whisk yourself away to Provence for a couple of hours in this tucked-away spot.
Pontcanna Inn
On game days, this friendly neighbourhood pub rivals those on St Mary’s Street, one of Cardiff’s liveliest. Pontcanna Inn’s large beer garden comes to life with rigby fever on summer nights. After a few pints, a slice from the pub’s pizza van is well received.
Crafty Devil’s Cellar
Set up as an alternative to large-scale breweries, Crafty Devil’s Cellar quenches the city’s thirst for local beers. If you want to try something new, choose from their selection of unique casks, such as coffee milk stout which boasts freshly roasted coffee from café Hard Lines as well as roasted caramel malts. Cans or pints can be enjoyed at a stool while watching the match on the pub’s TV, or taken away for another time.
Uisce
A wine and oyster bar without pomp and ceremony, Uisce was the first venture from the team behind Heaneys, the next-door fine dining restaurant. Serving a great wine list and seasonal cocktails, bar snacks and freshly shucked oysters paired with live music on Sundays, this is an elegant spot to begin the night.
Where to stay
Set in the heart of the neighbourhood, The Pontcanna Inn offers an ideal base to explore and get out to the rest of Cardiff on foot. The townhouse’s spacious, modern rooms are conveniently equipped and feel inviting after a day in the lively Welsh capital.
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