Road improvement work in Cardiff’s Castle Street is expected to last for 52 weeks but businesses say narrower paths, noise, and dust is affecting their trade
02:58, 28 Mar 2026
Road improvement work began at the end of February(Image: John Myers)
Businesses have raised concerns about how year-long road improvements on a busy Cardiff road are causing reduced footfall and trade. One fast food manager said he now has days where he has no customers as a result of the work going on outside his business.
Work on making the temporary road layout and cycleway permanent in Castle Street, in the city centre, has been ongoing for just over a month and is expected to take 52 weeks to complete.
As part of the improvements the road will be fully resurfaced, the footpaths will be upgraded, there will be changes to the bus stop, and a permanent cycleway will be built. The configuration of the traffic lanes will stay the same. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here.
A Cardiff council spokesman said the authority worked with businesses before they announced the work and were making sure it was being completed in stages to allow the road to stay open throughout.
Richard Matthews, one of the supervisors at Elevens Bar and Grill, told WalesOnline he’d noticed a very obvious change in trade and was disappointed that now the weather had got better they had been unable to use the 1.2m of outdoor space they pay Cardiff council for.
He said: “It’s definitely impacted us and we now can’t use the space we that we pay for to put furniture outside. We were going to persist with putting furniture out anyway but then there wouldn’t be enought space for wheelchairs to go along out there if we did. Instead we’ve moved them around the side.
“The council haven’t said anything about whether we’ll be reimbursed for that money that we pay.”
Another food establishment on the street is extremely worried about the next few weeks of trade having already seen business take a huge hit. Chicken.com, a halal fast food shop, said they can’t justify having the usual number of staff members working as some days they don’t even get one customer.
The manager of Chicken.com said: “It has impacted our business and we’re getting a lot quieter. It’s affected us massively. We normally have a minimum of 30 customers come in every day and now we’re only getting four to five.
“I’ve spoken to the people nextdoor and all the businesses along here are saying the same thing. I’m now really worried about the next four to five weeks which they’ve said they’ll be doing the work outside for because trade has been so quiet.
“Normally we have two people working but at the moment it’s just too quiet for both of us. Sometimes we are finding that there’s no customers in the day and that had never happened before these roadworks.”
He said it wasn’t just the noise and obstruction of the work harming trade but also the dust being produced. Living above the restaurant he said he was also struggling to sleep while the work was ongoing.
“Sometimes they’re using machines which are quite noisy and it’s been really hard to work. It’s not a good experience being here and they start so early that it often wakes me up too as I live upstairs.
“Also as we’re a food shop people are concerned about the noise and the dust from the work impacting hygiene. People don’t want to come in with their family and sit in noisy environment.”
A Cardiff council spokesman said: “The council communicated with businesses on Castle Street as part of the public engagement process prior to the public announcement being made. Details relating to deliveries and access will be agreed with businesses as works progress.
“The council is carrying out the required work while ensuring that the road remains open for the majority of the works so access to businesses is not restricted and east-to-west and west-to-east traffic movement is not affected. Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times. Ongoing liaison with business owners will take place as works progress.
“When the work is complete footways along Castle Street will be improved and the look and feel of the street will be significantly enhanced, helping to encourage further footfall and improve trading opportunities in this part of the city.”
Councillor Rodney Berman, leader of Cardiff council’s Liberal Democrat group, said the council needed to be “mindful” about the impact the roadworks would have and said local businesses were already competing against a number of tough conditions.
He added: “I hope the council will do what it can to keep the disruption down to a minimum but clearly this won’t be easy as Castle Street is a key route through the city centre.
“As fuel and energy prices rise due to the hostilities [in the Middle East] this will no doubt drive up inflation and lead to higher prices in our shops. That, in turn, could hit trade. So it’s possible that this disruption could be coming at a really difficult time for traders in the city centre.”
John Lancaster, leader of the Conversative group on Cardiff council, said the current measures should have stayed in place to save money and reduce the impact on local businesses.
He added: “When Cardiff council made temporary road layout changes to Castle Street during the Covid pandemic the fear amongst residents and businesses was that these would be a pretext to permanently close the street to traffic.
“We are pleased that Castle Street will remain open to through traffic. However it is mystifying why it will take so long to make the temporary changes permanent. The current measures should remain in place to save ratepayers’ money and to avoid disruption to local businesses.”
