Splott, Cardiff

girl_withno_name · 16 April 2012 at 12:14PM

Is anyone familiar with Splott in Cardiff (or it's reputation)?

I'm looking at potentially moving to Cardiff, and know what certain areas are like... but not particularly this one!

I'm gathering that it had a bad reputation but may be "semi-gentrified" as one comment suggested - any thoughts?

Thanks

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wriggly · 18 April 2012 at 3:51PM

I think a lot of people have moved there thinking it will become gentrified, but it has been in that "semi-gentrified" mode for about 10 years.

If you don't know the city, a good rule of thumb is to stay north of the railway mainline (= approx Newport Rd).

If you are young and/or single, you probably want to look at places in Roath, Plasnewydd, Penylan, Roath Park, Cathays, Riverside, Canton, or Pontcanna.

If you have a family, then those areas are also good, but you may get better value north of the A48.

girl_withno_name · 18 April 2012 at 4:26PM

wriggly wrote: »

I think a lot of people have moved there thinking it will become gentrified, but it has been in that "semi-gentrified" mode for about 10 years.

If you don't know the city, a good rule of thumb is to stay north of the railway mainline (= approx Newport Rd).

If you are young and/or single, you probably want to look at places in Roath, Plasnewydd, Penylan, Roath Park, Cathays, Riverside, Canton, or Pontcanna.

If you have a family, then those areas are also good, but you may get better value north of the A48.

Thanks... we're a young couple with no children (or plans for, at least in the next 5 years).

However, I'm not sure that I'd like to live in Roath or Cathays; with them being largely student accommodation I'd almost feel like I hadn't actually moved on from university life ... plus I suspect that we'd have the same issues with drunken singing, shouting, arguing and potential damage as we suffer from at our current rented house.

Saying that, I know that the more northern area of Roath (around Roath Park) is very nice... albeit too expensive for us I suspect. I'll definitely check out the other areas you've mentioned though and will bear in mind your rule of thumb

siaoeh · 18 April 2012 at 9:12PM

Canton is a nice area that is not far from town and has plenty of good shops there to make it a convenient area to live in. Not all of Roath is student housing, generally north of Albany road is quieter and still benefit from the shops available on Albany Road and City Road (more restaurants and takeaways you can eat in a week LOL)

I would not recommend Riverside..

Catspajamas · 19 April 2012 at 9:48PM

As someone who lives in Splott I'd probably say if you can afford to live elsewhere do it! It is good for getting into the centre and is cheaper but i would advise you to pick your street carefully as quite a few are horrible. Having said that my street is nice and I will be staying for a good few years. I tend to avoid the main street in Splott usually, occasionally pop to tesco express on it but a few months ago a group of teenagers tried to get in my car as I was about to pull away...thank god for central locking!! Shops are fine in the day but I personally don't tend to go in any of the pubs round here.

I guess what I'm saying about Splott is that it's ok to live in if you are lucky enough to find a good spot but I don't do anything in the area other than be inside my house (if that makes sense!!)

If you don't mind living in a flat the bay is absolutely great is so handy for everything and you can get a flat for pretty cheap. You can walk everywhere from there and there is so much going on is like proper city living.

Canton or Roath are lovely but can be pricey, nice place to live and still close to centre. I would still be living in canton if I had more money! It has it's own shops and is handy for the centre. Also the people round there seem really nice

I'd avoid cathays unless you don't mind random road cones all over the place and being woken up at 4 in the morning by students (no offense to any students!)

rjh090384 · 22 April 2012 at 9:29PM

there are good and bad areas in each section - i lived off albany road in roath and it was ok tho a lot of houses are damp. i then moved to other side of roath park and it was a dream! im now in splott and i dont mind it - its quiet enough for me and my little one but then i have lived in east belfast lol feel free to pm me if u want advice about specific streets etc there are ones to avoid

ecsb · 25 April 2012 at 9:37PM

Hi
I live in Grangetown, lots of roads i would not live in, but also lots of nice areas. Lots of young couples and a good community feel.
Again like previous poster re splott, if i could afford a "better" area i would.
Grangetown i feel is on par with Splott.
Good Luck..............feel free to pm me.

hazellc · 25 April 2012 at 10:33PM

I live in Splott. We couldn't afford to live in a good area, but to be honest I prefer this to most of the good areas I have lived in which are so far out of the centre of town that it's really inconvenient with no car.

We live in a cul de sac, at the back of a row of cul de sacs and not too close to Splott Road, so it's pretty quiet, although a couple of our neighbours had their car windows smashed the other day and every now and then we see the police come to talk to people on our street. My daughter's school is really nice. We're people who like to spend most of our time in our house, so the rough bits aren't really a problem for us.

Feel free to PM me too if you want to know anything else!

If I could live anywhere in Cardiff it'd probably be Canton.

athenajm · 22 May 2012 at 7:15PM

I live in Splott and love it! There are some rougher parts, but my area is relatively quiet - a few feral children and a bit of car crime but no worse, in fact possibly less, then my friends in Canton, Roath, Grangetown and Pontcanna have had. I've lived in various areas both here and Bristol, including some very ;gentrified' areas but where I live now has a better sense of community than anywhere I've lived before.

Like in every area, you get the good and the bad. Personally I'd steer clear of the Clifton St/Broadway area but then I know people who live round there and have no problems with it.

I live on my own and have done for 7 years here but have had no trouble (except from an ex who lived with me at the time!), and feel much safer here than when I visit friends in Grange and Canton.

Splott used to be v rough but the police did a few big operations and have got rid of a lot of the gangs etc. Like others have said, if you'd like to PM me I can tell you which streets are round by me and are quiet.

carbonmonoxide · 23 May 2012 at 1:36PM

I live in Splott too, like everyone else has said you get your good and bad streets. I have seen a couple of car windows smashed on our street, and someone did try and kick our door in once - so there is that side to it, but I lived in Roath before and had someone try to break in once. City life I guess... Overall I would prefer to live in Roath or Canton but can't afford it.

What I will say is Splott has a good communtiy feel to it (both our next door neighbours are great and take parcels in for us (which is a lot with the as my other hald shops on-line a lot!) and we get on well with the other people on our street). Clifton Street has been mentioned and it can seem a bit scary at first but has some great local independent shops. At first I didn't feel that safe around the area but I have grown comfortable with it. It's not where I would choose to live forever but overall I have got a soft spot for it now and there's certainly a lot of worse places you can live in Cardiff!

athenajm · 23 May 2012 at 4:49PM

Hmmm..quite a few of us in Splott, I wonder if any of us are neighbours or at least live on the same street?

Not that I'm going to publish my address on here, but I have a school on my street. Anyone else? (sounds a bit like Guess Who? now!)

Splott, Cardiff

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