The '90s entertainment complex that hosted bowling and birthday parties and is set to be torn down

If you grew up in south Wales at any time in the past 30 years you probably have a memory of the Red Dragon Centre. In October 1997 crowds gathered inside having been one of the lucky few chosen to get a sneak preview of the first showings at the UCI Cinema – one of the star attractions at the newly-built Atlantic Wharf Leisure Village as it was then known.

To put that in context October 1997 was the month LA Confidential, Free Willy 3, and Hercules were released in UK cinemas. The boxy TV screens flashing the yellow and blue UCI logo over the cinema entrance, bustling ticket desks, and iconic red Coca Cola signs by the vats of buttery popcorn you could plunge your fist into were a sign of promise and, paired with the restaurants and bowling alley, boasted something Cardiff had never had before under one roof.

From the recognisable large ship once plonked in the middle of the complex, fake village houses painted above the restaurants, and the much-missed Doctor Who exhibition, the Red Dragon Centre became synonymous with the Welsh capital over the years. It is where many had birthday parties, hung out at the Hollywood Bowl with their friends, had hazy nights at Revolution, and whiled the hours (and pennies) away at the tables in Grosvenor Casino.

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But the days are numbered for one of the city's most well-known buildings. Long-mooted plans for a new £280m arena and hotel in Cardiff Bay are under way as part of a major redevelopment of that area which covers 13.5 hectares including the Red Dragon Centre as well as County Hall and its car park, parts of Hemingway Road, Schooner Way, Lloyd George Avenue, and Silurian Park.

It will see the council-owned Red Dragon Centre demolished in the coming years though the council's preferred plan is for a replacement to be built and negotiations with existing tenants at the centre are ongoing. For the latest Cardiff news sign up to our newsletter here. The Red Dragon Centre has said the centre has not been confirmed to be closing but Atlantic Wharf regeneration documents include options for regenerating the centre site.

For many it will be the end of something they once held dear but now rarely use. For others it will be the loss of somewhere they hold many fond memories of. Over the years it has hosted radio shows, major events, and even a few popstars and celebrities.

I didn't grow up in Wales so I have no memories of the centre in its heyday. But I recently went for a walk inside on a weekday lunchtime and in many ways it really is like stepping back to my childhood.

Immediately inside you have these fake street lamps and red-bricked paving like shopping centres of old. It reminds me of the shopping centre near my home city of Cork, Ireland, which had this blocky red-brick exterior, bright zigzaggy floor patterns, and a circular bits 'n' bobs stall packed several feet tall with anything from whoopee cushions and Groucho Marx moustaches to colourful wristbands and cheap plastic Thunderbirds action figures. Then there was the tiny ice cream stall where a stern-looking man in a striped collared shirt and tie would serve you Mr Whippys with a flake if you had the patience for the queues that formed after school on a summer's day.

Almost everywhere you look in the Red Dragon Centre there are gaudy bright colours with little hint of subtlety – bright multicoloured benches and kids' car rides like the ones I used to beg my mother for a 50c coin to have a go on for a couple of minutes on a Saturday (she would often eventually relent just to have some respite from me.)

On the high-panelled arch that is the centre's ceiling a lone balloon bobs trying to escape. I wander inside the hot pink arch welcoming you to one of the centre's most well-known attractions, the Hollywood Bowl, and again the nostalgia triggers are strong.

On the left of the impressively large space the gaming area with its 'Hollwyood Bowl' stars on the carpet is all pounding rock music and flashing lights, fake chinking of cash coming from the machines inviting you to spend a few quid, and the rattle of machine guns from the Walking Dead game. These all sort of meld together into one slightly alarming carnival fever dream and I decide to move on unpersuaded by the 'prize every time' signs on the claw machines filled with fluffy pop-eyed toys.

The adjacent Hollywood Bar is not open yet but I can spot its amped up American cultural references; glittery 'DRINKS' sign over the beers taps, neon Budweiser signing behind like something out of an off-highway saloon in Twin Peaks, and the aggressive Route 66 signs adorning the walls by the tables (I assume Route 66 would be more thrilling than the gridlock I experienced along Leckwith Road on the way home later.)

I spot a couple of groups bowling and take my leave from Hollwyood Bowl back into the main centre. There are a few signs the centre has seen better days. At Five Guys, one of the newest additions to the centre, there are about six staff standing at the kitchen but no customers at that time of the day though I do later see some walk in. A number of buckets catch leaks from the ceiling but there is a security guard and a man with a bucket diligently washing the windows by the side entrance. I see quite a number of people in workout gear cutting through the centre to use the gym and I do actually spot a mother and daughter using the kids ride too.

Many of the recognisable elements of the centre like the giant ship and the Doctor Who exhibition are long gone but there are more relics of old that bring me back. The café in the middle has several coloured slushy machines (remember asking for a mix of colours and the sugar crash two hours later?) and the seating area of course has a big proud Welsh dragon on it.

While in many ways the centre appears outdated and in need of something new it is easy to forget that the Bay – and indeed Cardiff itself – was a very different place when it opened 27 years ago. At that time the Bay was still in its post-war state having been largely forgotten and was little other than derelict docks and mudflats. It wasn't until two years after the centre opened that Cardiff Bay Barrage was constructed and millions of pounds was invested into transforming it into the Cardiff Bay we know today. St David's 2, which replaced the tired Oxford Arcade and St David's Market and would give the city one of the biggest shopping centres in the UK, was not built until 12 years later.

My most recent non-work visits to the Red Dragon Centre are usually to the cinema (most recently the Zendaya-starring tennis film Challengers – a skip for me, if you want my opinion) and I can understand why the footfall is not what is used to be. While I've never eaten in most of the restaurants there it does seem like some more niche offerings would help rather than the buffet-centric options at the moment. These days people seem to gravitate to one-off dining out experiences at places they really like and they are usually big well-known chains or fondly-loved independents. Being anything in between seems a bit tough.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't still work. On my last walk through there were quite a number of families with kids there. Capital South Wales still broadcasts from there and over the years the centre has had many notable DJs work for Red Dragon FM and other outlets.

Cardiff radio presenter Polly James now has a Radio X show but previously broadcast on Capital South Wales and has many fond memories of the Red Dragon Centre. “It’s so sad that it’s going because as a Cardiff girl it has always been a constant,” she said.

“It was always ‘down the big cinema, down the Bay, or down the Hollywood Bowl.’ It was always a place to hang out – especially when the Bay was being redeveloped.

“I actually remember when it opened and it was this new complex opening in Cardiff and it was at the height of Spice Girl fame. My dad showed me the paper and said they were going to be performing at this new centre opening. At the time I was collecting all these Spice Girls photos.

"We went down and I just couldn’t believe these untouchable people I loved were performing at this new centre. I brought my whole photo album to get them to sign – and we got there and it was a Spice Girls tribute act!” she laughed.

Polly remembers the cinema there – now Odeon – being one of the only ones in Cardiff at the time and said the centre is a place of many memories for her. “It was a bit of a cool hub and it’s sad that you don’t get as much footfall now because there are other places that can go toe-to-toe with it.

“I remember my first time walking into Capital and thinking it was the coolest because it was at the same place as Odeon, the bowling, and all these restaurants. I was going there as a kid, going bowling and eating out with my friends, going to parties. My first date was there. And now I take my kids there. As soon as we go in my little girl will run onto the rides and we can’t walk past Hollywood Bowl without her running to all the amusements. So it is quite nostalgic.”

Polly said the centre is also close to her heart as it is the place she first fell in love with radio. “The Red Dragon Centre for me is where my radio show started – thinking about it now it is where it all began. I had my first days in the industry which is now my life – my first interview, everything like that. It’s strange thinking it won’t be there, which is sad.

“You often think back to the time you fell in love with [radio] and that feeling you had. When I was on Capital I lived two minutes away so it was a home from home for me. It holds a lot of good memories especially in terms of who I am now. I remember going into the studios there and seeing all the old tapes in the radio station and being in awe.”

Welsh presenter Jason Harrold hosted the popular Red Dragon FM radio show The Full Welsh Breakfast until 2008 and worked for the station for around 16 years. He moved there when they relocated from West Canal Wharf and remembers being struck by how different it was.

"When you walked in through the doors there was an old boat that they had in the middle as a centrepiece, which I thought was quite quirky," he said. “Also the facades above the restaurants were in the style of old buildings – these old upstairs rooms of old houses, taverns etc. There was always something going on. People would use it, and still do, to get to Cardiff Bay."

Jason said the centre was also the perfect vantage point to watch the transformation of Cardiff Bay over the years. "It was great as a place of work because you could look out the window and see all the development.

“Every day you'd go in and see the progress of development. The Millennium Centre you could see being built from the window which was quite fascinating to see.

“It was quite a hive of activity. You’d have journalists, a sales team, a promotions and marketing team. And of course it was this new open airy building whereas we’d been in this older one in west wharf.

“It was built in the 90s and obviously the bit outside that you walk under always reminded me of the nose of a Concorde – it always reminded me of that. It was all flash and new when we moved in."

Among Jason's memories of the centre are its Doctor Who exhibition and some of the big names who graced the centre. “It wasn’t big – you could just walk in and look at the Daleks and the other things from the show. It was like walking into a museum gift shop.

“Even though we weren’t in the unit yet Red Dragon was there for the official opening and we were there greeting people coming in. We had Louise Redknpapp who was very much hot property at the time and was just launching her solo career – she was there. But [my best memories] have been meeting great people on the radio.

“Lord Kinnock, Ruth Jones, and James Corden have dropped in for an interview over the years. So it’s been the big names that have come in to chat in the radio station.

“On a weekend like we've just had on a Saturday the car park is full. People might park and go over to the Bay but if the weather isn’t so good you get parents and kids going to the cinema or bowling. It was a way of getting the kids out of the house – it’s still a popular place.

“You seem to hear it a lot that people want to develop areas and whether they see it as an improvement only time will tell. But the centre is coming up to 30 years old so although it is comparatively new we’ll see what happens when something is in its place.”

Just like much of what Polly and Jason remember about the centre most of what I recall about my local shopping centre has gone. The bits 'n' bobs stall shut years ago. The ice cream stall followed a few years after. Today the centre is a bit tired and was recently sold for €25m to be revamped. I still like walking around there when I'm home but that's more because of the memories I have of hanging out with my friends after a trip to the cinema or when my mum would take my sister and I down there when we were bored and let us run around while she did the shopping.

The point here isn't that we should feel overly sentimental about bricks and mortar being torn down. Development is badly needed in Cardiff and in most cities – I accept that. But for many certain buildings are inextricably attached to certain memories which does bring a certain nostalgia to it. Walking around the Red Dragon Centre knowing its days are numbered is a chance not only to delve into memories thousands of people will have of the place, but to relate it to my own. Hopefully whatever takes its place will eventually hold similar memories for people in Cardiff.

A Red Dragon Centre spokesperson said: "“We are aware of the recent publicity discussing the closing of the Red Dragon Centre. We want to reiterate that we are not being demolished or closed in the near future, and that the upcoming Atlantic Wharf redevelopment is not affecting the day-to-day running of the centre.

"The possible closure of the centre is still unconfirmed, but even if that changes, it won’t be for the foreseeable future. With a host of new brands recently joining the centre and a jam-packed 2024 ahead full of films, food, entertainment, and events, the Red Dragon Centre is still here, still entertaining, and still making memories.”