Most students in Cardiff who don’t live in halls or at home live in Cathays, Roath or Heath. These are vibrant areas with loads of other students from the other universities in Cardiff, and have great transport links into town and to the university campuses. However, there is an often-overlooked area of Cardiff which is walking distance from Llandaff campus, and the city centre – Canton.
Canton (Treganna in Welsh) lies in West Cardiff, bordering Ely, Grangetown/Riverside, Llandaff and Pontcanna. It is the most Welsh speaking district in Cardiff, with around 19.1% of the population being fluent speakers. This means it would be a perfect place for students from Welsh speaking areas to live. However, as a Wiltshire native, I haven’t encountered any issues not speaking Welsh!
Canton is a foodies’s dream!
Canton is incredibly ethnically diverse, and this is echoed from the amazing range of takeaways and restaurants. There is an eatery from nearly every continent! There’s BrØd, the Danish bakery who make the most delicious Danish pastries. Kimchi, the Korean barbecue restaurant offer a fun and reasonably priced dining experience. Vivo Latino offer Latin American inspired food, and tasty cocktails with a live guitarist serenading you at the weekends. The Dough Thrower make outstanding wood fired pizzas. They do a bottomless prosecco offer on Sundays too which is worth checking out. The Landsdowne pub does an amazing Sunday roast too!
I’m so lucky to have this beautiful park right on my doorstep.
I live near Victoria Park in Canton. It takes me around 15 minutes to walk to uni. If the weather is particularly gnarly, I can get the number 1 Cardiff Bus service straight to uni, and the number 2 bus home. The numbers 17 and 18 regularly run from Canton into the city centre, and these services operate through the night as well – so perfect for nights out.
Chapter is a bar, a cafe, a theatre, a cinema and an art gallery all in one.
Chapter Arts Centre is a fantastic space combining multiple artforms. If you’re into film, performance, theatre or art then this is the place for you. They also do a cracking breakfast! Canton has a few other arty hidden gems, like The Bone Yard which is a site of shipping container studios. King’s Road Courtyard house artists, musicians, Lufkin Coffee Roasters and Pipes Brewery.
Printhaus is a screen print workshop and also home to Dusty Knuckle Pizza. Manda Yoga is a fantastic yoga studio offering classes from beginners to experts.
I love living in Canton. Living in a vibrant, diverse and friendly area of Cardiff made moving away not so terrifying! Canton has everything I need, and with the excellent transport links to uni, the city centre and the M4, I’m not sure I’ll ever want to leave…
Looking for more about living in Cardiff? Check out more blogs about our city.
