The Coal Exchange

This is one of my favorite venues for watching bands and partying. Admittedly I haven’t been for a few years so I’m not sure if this is the best time to write this but hey, I want to see more stuff happening there. This place is just timeless and probably hasn’t changed for 50 years, it’s difficult to put into words how special it is, with it’s old school Oak (I guess) beams and paneling, really high ceilings with gallery, a stage with sunken (dance) floor in front (At a guess I would say this was 50 25ft but as I said, its been a while.) There’s lots of seating areas around the outside of the main sunken/​dance floor. There’s a bar and large corridors leading off to the cloak rooms and toilets. I have been here several times in the past to watch bands, have company parties and have even seen boxing tournaments here and would like to see more happening here.

A friend of mine and I saw Patti Smith at the Coal Exchange recently and were blown away. If there were gods, then P. Smith would be one of them.
The Coal Exchange is an amazing reminder of coal’s relatively recent great value as a commodity. Not only am I glad that the building still stands, but that it’s also a thriving business. This venue is a boon to the Cardiff Bay area. Dark wood lines the walls and makes up the balconies of the exchange. This place, having retained the look of the exchange it once was, is grand in a small way.
As a music venue, it works fairly well. It’s an intimate enough space, so that one feels quite connected to the show on stage. The musicians are all very visible (if one isn’t standing behind a tall dude or chick!), and, with the right sound person, the music fills the hall without overpowering it. The house is ‘standing room only’, but, if you’re not keen on actually seeing the musical acts, then there are a couple of seats along the wall in one corner of the room opposite the entry hall. In the other back corner of the room is a well-​staffed bar serving the usual beer, wine, and basic cocktails. It may have just been the Patti Smith crowd, but waiting for drinks was quick and painless. This was not an unruly bunch of music-​goers. The same could be said for when the show was over and all of us contentedly made our way to the exit. It took mere minutes to be outside in the cool, night air talking about how great the show was as we made our way back to the hotel.

The Coal Exchange was built between 1883 and 1886 and was designed by James, Seward and Thomas. The purpose of the building at that time was to be a place where businessmen could meet to make deals on trade. Coal being the most important, but not the only one. Cardiff had developed from a market town of 10,000 people into the central hub of commerce on the world stage at this point. I remember being told that the first ever million pound deal was struck at The Coal exchange and that was all those years ago. If you were to translate that into a monetary sum in terms of today I wonder exactly how much money you would be talking.
I find it highly interesting that despite the closure of our mines in the 80s the Coal Exchange itself has remained although now it serves an entirely different purpose. Despite it now being an entertainment venue the building has retained much of its internal features. For example, the wood panelling on the trading wall, the oak balcony and the Corinthian columns. I wonder if this is partially down to the family-​led business which now runs the venue. This is a must see place to visit in Cardiff and if you know a band you like are going to be playing here then it’s worth buying yourself a ticket ASAP as gigs often sell out here. Watching a gig here is different; you are surrounded by history but bombarded with modern culture at the same time.

Sex, Wales and Anarchy at the Coal exchange, Saturday 3^rd September.
Entering the Coal Exchange, I was greeted by the beautiful, soulful, melodic tones of Sunrise Sunset’s Nia Roberts and, well, erm… lots of vaginas. Photos of vaginas, drawings of vaginas, vaginas covered in honey, busts of vaginas. This was essentially a vagina menagerie.
Following this initial surprise, the early line-​up of acoustic acts eased me back into the day; The Gentle Good particularly captivating with his soft voice and dark folk stories. Interspersed among these up-​and-​coming acts came a Q+A session with British screenwriter James Moran, who was grilled on his new independent web series Girl Number 9. And while all of this happened on the main stage, there was also the option to observe some short films or a variety of spoken word artists. One poet talked about Ikea and weed — I suspect not a good mix, who knows what endless hilarity such furniture names as Gutvik could induce.
As the evening drew in, punks, goths and folk just like me and you gathered and the mood got slightly heavier. Curator Gareth David-​Lloyd fronted his band Blue Gillespie, who performed an intriguing mix of high-​energy rock and blues. Lethargy, a four piece from Neath, gave us pure, solid rock, surely a band to get excited about in the future. And to finish off a true rollercoaster of a day for music, DJ Killer Tomato hit the decks, scratching up some hot beats to get us shaking our stuff all the way to the kebab shop.
The venue was perfect for this event with masses of space and little rooms for the side events. It had a wonderful gothic feel to it and I hope to go again!

Among the most welcome returns to the city’s live music scene since the turn of the Millennium was the reopening of Cardiff Bay’s Coal Exchange. Its prior closure was brought into particularly painful focus by the failure of one or two other music venue ventures in what the locals will still demand you refer to as Butetown, plus The Point’s enforced shutdown. The historic building, impressively grandiose interior and all, was certainly missed in that respect, leaving a hole for 1,000-capacity venues in Cardiff. But, happily, plans for redevelopment were shelved and since opening its doors once again big names are slowly being attracted back to the Coal Exchange’s stage.

Cardiff’s live music fans were gutted when the gorgeous Coal Exchange closed its doors, as it had long been a hugely popular venue for medium-​sized concerts. In late 2009 it reopened again, however, and there’s now a whole line-​up events planned throughout 2010, including Marina and the Diamonds in November.
Dominating Mount Stuart Square in Cardiff Bay, the Coal Exchange has an impressive façade and an equally striking wood-​panelled interior, and makes a wonderful setting for live music. As its name suggests, it was built between 1883 and 1886 at a time when Cardiff was growing into the greatest coal exporting port in the world, thanks to the nearby mines of Rhondda and neighbouring South Wales valleys.
Today it has been transformed into a fantastic live music venue with a capacity of 1,000 standing, or 600+ in theatre-​style seating. Check out the website for forthcoming concerts.

This place has recently reopened and god how I’ve missed it. It was once the place for my adolescent moshing and apparently even before that an actual serious building where something big happened to do with Cardiff and coal and lots of money. I’m not big on Welsh history but apparently the first recorded million pound business deal was struck here. Regardless, it’s an impressive building and after its recent facelift I can confirm it’s looking great. Fabulous bands have already played there since it re opened in November, Ocean Colour Scene and Super Fury Animals to name but two but this isn’t just a music venue, fashion and sports events have been planned here for 2010 and I can’t wait to see this venue thriving again.