By 1911 the proportion of Cardiff's population that was black or Asian was second in the UK to London, though mainly concentrated in the dock areas such as Tiger Bay. The district was one of the epicentres of the
1919 South Wales race riots, with eyewitnesses reporting six deaths instead of the official accounts of three, and with nearly all arrests made by the Cardiff police being of the local ethnic minority population instead of the white soldiers who had instigated the riots. During World War II, local authorities attempted to ban Black American
G.I.s from drinking in the city's pubs; however, pub staff refused to enforce the ban. In the 1960s, most of the original housing was demolished including the historic
Loudoun Square, the original heart of Butetown. In its place was a typical 1960s housing estate of low-rise courts and alleys, and two high-rise blocks of flats. In the 1980s, the new
Atlantic Wharf development was built on the reclaimed West Bute Dock, and has involved the construction of some 1,300 new houses. Together with the developments in the Inner Harbour and Roath Basin, it was hoped this would spur redevelopment and employment in Butetown, but it seems not to have. The divide between the wealthy
Cardiff Bay and the poor Tiger Bay seems as wide as ever, although some of the surviving areas of historic Butetown are becoming prime office and retail locations. With the new Century Wharf development to the west on the banks of the
Taff, the housing estate is becoming a little 'boxed in', increasing feelings of exclusion. Over the next few decades, the 1960s housing will require renewal and it is hoped that new development will be more suited to the urban context of the area and will provide a better mix of private and public housing to help fully integrate the community with the rest of the city. A three-year £13m project to redevelop a shopping parade, community hub, health centre and homes in Butetown began in 2010. The Loudoun Square development will include environmental aspects such as harvesting rain water. The project is a collaboration between Cardiff Community Housing Association (CCHA),
Cardiff Council and
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The facilities and 62 new homes will follow four years of consultation with local residents. In 2022 a well-known mural of Maimuna Yoncana on St James Street which celebrated Cardiff’s ethnic diversity was painted over with a McDonald's advert. == Demographics ==