Cardiff Market

Cardiff Indoor market is a Grade II* listed building that opened on 8th May 1891, but there is evidence to suggest that a regular weekly market has been held in the same location since the 14th century. In 1331, a booth hall was erected and can be seen on various old maps of the town. Cardiff's earliest covered market facilities were part of the Old Town Hall in the middle of the High Street. The new Town Hall, which replaced it in 1747, devoted the ground floor to a market area. The ‘corn and cloth’ and ‘poultry and butter’ market proved so popular that an extension was added in 1780. In the 1830s, the Borough Council agreed that a purpose-built independent covered market should be constructed. The result was the first St Mary Street Market, and it resembled a shed in appearance. In the early 1880s, there were plans to improve the market, and in 1884 Solomon Andrew’s Market Buildings were opened. However, these Market Buildings only survived a year until the great fire of 1885.