- Stories & Inspiration
- A Year in Cardiff Bay: An Insider's Guide
A Year in Cardiff Bay, Seen From Behind a Hotel Desk
Martin Eagle has spent twelve years selling Cardiff Bay to visitors. We asked him when the Bay is at its best, what people walk straight past, and where he sends guests when they ask where to eat.
Read more about the author: Steve - in partnership with Future Inn Cardiff
Most guides to Cardiff Bay will tell you what is there. Fewer will tell you when to come, which is arguably the more useful question. A place has a rhythm, and the people who notice it are the ones who work in it every day: when the Bay fills up, when it empties, which weekend sells out a year ahead and which quiet Tuesday in November is secretly the nicest time to walk the barrage.
Martin Eagle is Sales Manager at Future Inn Cardiff Bay, and he has been there for twelve of his twenty-eight years in hospitality. We managed to ask him a few questions, and these are his answers.
The job is not what you think it is
Most people assume a hotel sales manager takes bookings. Martin's description of the role suggests otherwise.
"The role of Sales Manager is very varied. I am responsible for managing the sales office team for conference and reservations bookings. I am also responsible for setting promotions for the Thomas restaurant, wedding packages, and putting together the Christmas programme for the hotel. I regularly attend networking events and expos to promote the hotel, plus much more. A very busy role."
He started as a reservations clerk. "I have been at the Future Inn Cardiff for coming up to 12 years now. I have been in the hospitality industry now for 28 years, working my way up from reservations clerk to my current role as Sales Manager."
When Cardiff Bay is busiest
The honest answer to "when should I visit Cardiff Bay" depends entirely on what you want from it, and Martin's year divides into clear seasons.
"The hotel is always busy. We do tend to have seasonality however for the different markets. Conference tends to be busier from February to June and then again from late September to November. February and March tend to be busy with the arrival of the Six Nations, which brings a real buzz to the city."
Ask which weekend goes first and the answer is immediate. "The Six Nations matches. Wales v France and Wales v England are always the biggest matches, and we can be full a year in advance."
A year in advance. If you want to be in Cardiff for one of those, that is your warning!
Shows matter too. Future Inn is a partner hotel of the Wales Millennium Centre, which sits five minutes from the front door. "As partners with the Wales Millennium Centre we have lots of guests stay with us, as we offer a preferred rate if you are going to one of the many shows at the centre. The Christmas shows are always the most popular."
And the visitor mix has shifted. "Over the past year we have seen much more in the way of events, especially over the summer months, with Cardiff's plan to be a music capital which so far is going well, with groups like Oasis, Stereophonics and Harry Styles in the stadium and others like Sir Tom and Pet Shop Boys at the Castle."
The best-kept secret about rugby weekends
Here is the thing nobody tells you. On a Wales match day, with eighty thousand people pouring into the city centre, Cardiff Bay goes quiet.
"The Bay is quite quiet on a match day as most of the action takes place in the city centre. Most of the bars in the Bay will be showing the match, however it is a nice time to visit the Bay if rugby is not your thing, as you can enjoy the beauty of the Bay in a quieter setting. Weather permitting, that is!"
If you have ever tried to get a table in Cardiff on an international weekend, that is worth knowing.
Asked when he would quietly tell a friend to come, Martin picks the shoulder seasons.
"Cardiff is a lovely city all year round! My favourite time is autumn, as a walk around Cardiff Castle and Bute Park is beautiful when all the leaves are turning shades of gold and brown. Summer is always great for a walk across to the Cardiff Bay Barrage, where you get a beautiful view of Cardiff from across the Bay."
Why the Bay, and not the city centre
Cardiff Bay is a different proposition to the centre, and the reason is partly engineering. The barrage across the mouth of the Taff and the Ely, completed in the late 1990s, shut out the tide and turned what had been acres of mudflats into a permanent freshwater lake. Everything built since has faced that water.
"It has a totally different feel to the city centre and there is so much history to explore," Martin says.
That history is the part visitors underestimate. This was the dock that shipped Welsh steam coal around the world, and the wealth it generated built the buildings people now walk past without looking up. The Terra Nova sailed from these docks in June 1910 carrying Captain Scott towards the Antarctic, a journey from which he never returned, and the city is still woven into that story.
Ask Martin what people miss and he names two things.
"The Norwegian Church, which is famous as it is the place where Roald Dahl was christened. Also the Coal Exchange, now a hotel. It is set back from the main waterfront but was where all the biggest deals were made in Cardiff's coal heydays, and where the million pound cheque was signed. The main exchange floor is amazing to see."
If you want more of this, our guide to the landmarks in Cardiff Bay covers the rest of them.
A wet afternoon in Cardiff Bay
This being Wales, the question is not whether it will rain but what you do when it does. Martin has clearly answered this one at the desk a few hundred times.
"There are plenty of things to do in the Bay even in the wet weather. You can pop across to visit the Norwegian Church, where Roald Dahl was christened, and have a coffee and cake. Visit an exhibition in the Senedd or the Pierhead Building. Visit Techniquest, an interactive science museum which is great fun for all ages, or something more simple: pop across to the Red Dragon Centre for a spot of ten pin bowling or grab a film at the Odeon cinema."
Worth adding that the Senedd and the Pierhead are both free to walk into, which makes them the cheapest way to get out of the rain in the Bay.
Where to eat
Every hotel recommends its own restaurant, and Martin is no exception, but he gives the detail to go with it.
"Our first point of call is always our onsite Thomas restaurant, which is open to the public for both lunch and dinner, offering an à la carte menu and our special set three courses for £27.00. Afternoon tea is also a firm favourite. Popular places are Miller & Carter Steak House and also Demiro's, which is located on the bay front and often has entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights."
The Thomas being open to non-residents is the useful bit there. Hotel restaurants in the Bay are not always obvious as places you can simply book.
Staying at Future Inn Cardiff Bay
Future Inn sits in the middle of the Bay, within walking distance of the Wales Millennium Centre, the Senedd, Mermaid Quay and the barrage path, which puts most of a weekend's walking within ten minutes of reception. The Thomas restaurant is on site and open to the public, there is a preferred rate for Wales Millennium Centre show-goers, and the hotel handles conferences and weddings alongside the leisure trade.
What does stand out is how long people stay. Twelve years in one hotel is a long stint in an industry with a reputation for churn, and it shows in the answers: this is someone who knows which weekend sells out a year ahead, and that the Bay goes quiet at exactly the moment the city centre fills up.
You can see rates and book at www.futureinns.co.uk/cardiff/, and read more about what else is on the doorstep on our Cardiff Bay page.
Our thanks to Martin for the time. If a Six Nations weekend is on your list, you now know how far ahead to book, and if it is not, you know which weekend the Bay is at its quietest.
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