Cardiff's night market: a look back at the Sŵn edition

Cardiff's Central Market has a habit of doubling its life after dark, and its most recent turn was as the Cardiff Music City Festival Night Market. For three evenings during the Sŵn weekend — Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 October — the Grade II listed Victorian hall on Saint Mary Street stayed open from 5pm to 10pm, free to anyone who wandered in off the street. It was the kind of event that worked as well for a casual dip as it did for anyone already in the middle of the festival.

The first thing that caught people was the lighting. Local designers Neon Black, who are part of the team behind The Sphere in Las Vegas, put on a commissioned installation called Cyfartalwr | Equaliser, which turned the market's architecture into a giant graphic equaliser made of 3,360 LED pixels spread across seven floors. It was a fitting backdrop for the music, which Radio Sudd, Wales' new bilingual alternative station, curated and broadcast live from a pop-up on the ground floor, with tunes carrying into the evening from a balcony booth near Kelly's Records. The full line-up had been announced on the Radio Sudd Breakfast Show back on 7 October, and it ran to a balcony stage overlooking the market floor, with Ifan, Pypi Slysh and the John Mouse Multiverse among the live acts, alongside Sarah Sweeney, Bar Italia, Slush Puppy and the Welsh psychedelic indie band Pys Melyn, plus a run of DJs including John Rea, Deckshark, Ceyda and Willow.

Food, as always, was a big part of the draw. The stalls were a real mix: Dirty Gnocchi with its Caio's Dirty Cow — fried gnocchi topped with beef ragu and parmesan; The Bearded Taco, serving a jalapeño queso quesadilla and the 'Let's Avo Cwtch' tempura avocado taco; Ffwrnes Pizza, wood-fired and with names like 'Jiawl Bach' and Fen Soz; and Tokyo Nights, with karaage rice bowls and a night-market Honey Siracha Tender. There was also Anand George's Indian Kitchen, with Keralan Fried Chicken and chicken biryani; The Real Ting; Pierogi's Polish dumplings; Patagonia Street Food's 48-hour marinated beef; Ya Souvlaki, Bao Selecta and Thai Asian Delish; and Cardiff Bakestones for Welsh cakes and cream scones. Griff's Deli and Celtic Corner kept the drinks going, and food and drink were paid for separately at each stall.

There was a bit of history to take in while you waited, too. At the Saint Mary Street entrance, a plaque marks the spot where Richard Lewis, better known as Dic Penderyn, was hanged in 1831 for his role in the Merthyr Rising. His last words, 'O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd' — 'Oh Lord, this is an injustice' — open the track 'Superted' by the Welsh rock band Angel Hotel. The market itself sits on the site of the old 18th-century Farmers' Market, and before that, it was the city's prison. The whole thing was backed by the Welsh Government and Cardiff Council, and it once again showed how the building can be put to a very different use after hours.