Cardiff Violins: The music of the Castle Arcade

The violin and cello shop is tucked away on the second floor of Castle Arcade

CARDIFF Violins has been based in the Castle Arcade since 1993, selling violins alongside repairing, restoration and set ups. 

Many customers find their way to the shop after hearing music floating down through the arcade. 

Access to the balcony of the Castle Arcade is easy to miss, look out for the stairs amongst the other shops.

Cécile Limon, co-owner of Cardiff Violins, said: “It was an abandoned shop and we thought, okay, let’s do it. We only had seven violins at the time.

“We now have several hundred — maybe five hundred. Hopefully, we will carry on serving musicians in the musical communities for a very long time.”

The business originally took on three rooms of the abandoned arcade balcony and since then the shop has tripled in size with more rooms and a much larger workshop space on the third floor of the arcade.

The workshop is out of bounds for the public but you can catch a glimpse from the cello room.

The shop is about to launch a new website to be able to use soundbites of different instruments and show off their range of instruments.

  • For more updates on Cardiff Violins for their Facebook page here