44 Castle arcade

For the last three years, Fabulous Welshcakes has been baking delicious, fresh cakes every day from its Castle Arcade store.

“When you come into the shop, you always get the signature smell,” said manager Karen Jones.

Karen said: “Our shop is unique. It's one of the only Welsh cake shop that I know of in the area. There are a couple of great outlets - but not a shop, solely dedicated to Welsh cakes in the city centre.

“We make sure to change the flavours every single day. I think that's what brings return customers to the shop. You can come in and get a hot one, fresh off the griddle.

“It's been a tough year, we're quite a young business as we've only been here three years. We were just getting where we wanted to be before the first lockdown.

“We've got loyal customers, and we’re spreading by their word of mouth and social media.”

One of the biggest positives following the pandemic has been people’s shopping attitudes changing, with more people than ever now shopping at local businesses.

“I think the one thing lockdown has taught everybody is that we need to support independent businesses, Karen said.

“It's something I've tried to do, and more and more customers are definitely saying they will continue to support local independent businesses.

“The arcade has a real community feel, something which is really unique to Cardiff. When you wonder through the arcades, there are little surprises which you might not know about until you explore the arcades for yourself.

“We often see tourists come past and say, ‘oh, wow’ – exploring the arcades without knowing what they're going into – that’s part of the fun of it. We're extremely lucky, not many places have amazing arcades like we have in Cardiff.”