Episode 2 City Road

A stone's throw from the shopping mecca of Cardiff city centre,

lies a street with a long history of home-grown business.

Good morning, Coray Co, how can I help?

A kilometre-long melting pot of independent retailers,

City Road is the country's most diverse street.

Almost 60% of those who live here were born outside of Wales.

So much diversity in City Road.

My Scottish accent is just adding to it, I think.

A place where new...

I hope open next month. ..and old collide.

I wouldn't like a business down here, now it's altered.

Where change is inevitable,

and fun times are always just around the corner.

Vibrating mascara, looks kind of spiky.

Oh! Look at that!

On a street that was once the site for public executions...

I'm going to cry now.

..it's not always easy to survive,

but the people of City Road have learned to come out fighting.

And they never stay down for long.

I love you, Dave!

This is life on City Road.

It's the place to be for action.

Today, City Road is many things to many people.

These days, the street is better known for its restaurants,

than its retail, and the businesses that thrive here are those

that throw everything at it.

We've tried to go for a higher standard than what City Road

has been used to. Rolling with the punches...

And keeping up with the times. Bum shaping? Yes.

SHE LAUGHS

One man who thinks opportunity knocks on City Road is Amjid.

It's looking good so far. Exciting times now, you know.

At the far end of the street, Amjid is transforming an old

electronics shop into what will be the 58th restaurant on City Road.

It's looking fantastic. Exciting stuff.

Amjid has moved lock, stock and barrel from Glasgow,

especially to open his business on this street.

All right, bud?

My wife, she is originally from Cardiff, and we used to go to

City Road and I just kind of looked around and thought,

it had a right good vibe,

and I thought, "I want to be part of this."

Building materials, is it?

'So much diversity in City Road.

'That's one of the things I love about it.

'Me coming along with my Scottish accent is just adding to it, I think!'

Aye, cool, no problem. Where you fae? Dundee. Dundee?

I'm from Glasgow. Sounds like it! Aye!

Amjid's restaurant will be part of a national franchise.

Kebabish Original,

we used to run grilled Pakistani and Indian food, barbecued food.

And he thinks that attention to detail will be his recipe for success.

There's a bit of the arrow at the bottom there, the kind of skewer

thing that's kind of sticking out a wee bit too much for my liking.

Everything's got to be perfect from the word go, you know,

and I'm hoping that when the people do come through the door,

they'll see the effort that we have put in to getting everything

as perfect as we can, you know?

We've decided go for a higher standard than what City Road

has kind of been used to. We've taken it up a level, you know?

And the thing is, sometimes when you do that,

it forces other businesses as well to kind of up their game as well.

What do you think? Getting there. Getting there, yeah.

Amjid's not the only one with an eye for detail.

I don't know about this colour.

His wife, Uzma is also a bit of a perfectionist.

Are you sure that's the colour we chose?

Uzma, my wife, she's got very high standards, but in a good way.

That's different, that's different, that's different. Is it?

Shades of grey.

You want to be right, you don't want to cut corners,

make sure everything is right and stuff, you know.

Uzma's already spotted a problem with the sign outside.

The finishing is not very good. No.

The screws don't look as if they're very secure,

and it's a very heavy sign.

The last thing you want is it falling on somebody's head.

But is there an even bigger problem with those chillies?

Is that bit at the bottom not meant to be at the top, the chillies?

Are they no the wrong way round? Oh, my God.

I think they have.

Quick, check the franchise website.

No.

No, we are all right! Oh, my God!

Sorry, it's just me.

Once you go past this point, it's a little bit more...eye-watering.

Just down the road from Amjid's restaurant...

The vibrating part is quite big.

Faith is taking an unusual goods delivery for her new passion project.

If you did pop in, I can show you it working.

She's turning the upstairs of her sexy shop into a combat sports gym.

Can I help with something? More boxes. I'm emptying the boxing kit.

OK? Big boxes? Yes, the bigger the better. OK! We have plenty of boxes.

It's all part of Faith's plan to diversify her business and

keep the passion alive.

The building is so huge.

At first we didn't use most of the space in here, now,

rates have gone up so high and all the bills are going up and up,

and up, so using this space will be a wise move, I think.

There's another reason why Faith wants to transform her old storeroom.

Why have we got Vaseline?!

That's for sparring, eyebrows. OK.

And that is to keep fitness fanatic Paul happy.

I've got a long history in combat sports with boxing, kick boxing.

I've taken about four or five decent titles

all the big ones nationally.

He actually used to be my boxing coach.

And that's how we knew each other.

A few years ago, when Faith's relationship broke up,

Paul went from fitness coach to life coach.

I was kind of stranded when I split up from my partner.

He was here one minute, and the next day he's gone.

Now I've got leaks all over the building and carrying big,

massive flipping heavy things up the stairs

and this, that and the other and I had to cope with it all on my own.

And then Paul came to my rescue. I was like, "Paul!"

It was the time when you looked in the sewer and got covered in shit!

THEY LAUGH

He's my Man Friday.

That's why I want this room to be done so he sort of stays around.

All those years of college, all those years of reading, training,

this, that and the other and I'm putting false cocks in a box!

SHE LAUGHS

Aspirations, eh?

Downstairs in the shop,

the training is just beginning for Faith's new employee.

That's not a dress? No, it's not. Is that a dress?

It changes into a dress when you put it on. Wow.

Siobhan will be the evening manager at Passion.

I'm not very good at this, am I?

Oh, no! I'm not very good at this at all!

I need to tighten things up financially and get even more

sales if I can, by opening till 9pm.

I don't know why I'm trying to give the mannequin some sort of modesty!

There we are, lovely.

Of course, it's vital Siobhan knows her way around the goods,

from the smallest... We've got handmade bikinis.

They are mainly for strippers. ..to the biggest.

SHE GASPS

That's a bad boy, innit?

It's fabulous, I want one. FAITH LAUGHS

Then we've got bum shaper pants. Bum shaping?

Yes, your bum comes through there and it makes it into a massive...

SHE LAUGHS

..Into a big massive round.

SIOBHAN LAUGHS

'I'm really quite interested to see how she will work out.'

Yeah, I think she'll be good.

Hiya, is it Jasmine?

At Kebabish Original, Amjid and Uzma have also been interviewing staff,

in anticipation of opening their restaurant in a couple of weeks.

Do you eat out much? Not much, no.

The only places I go really is like Nando's

and that's the only place I will go!

On site, building work continues.

Amjid's brother has come all the way from Glasgow to check out

progress and he's impressed.

Looks very classy, doesn't it? Aye, very. I like that.

I'm really pleased for him.

Proud that it's my brother who's doing this, you know?

Amjid's putting a brave face on it, but privately,

the pressure is mounting.

I've not been sleeping that well, I'm stressed out. I can't sleep.

For the last few weeks, progress on site has been painfully slow.

There's been a few delays, a few mix-ups. You know, it's frustrating.

There's a lot of interest in us opening.

People are about engagements, and we're having to knock all

this custom back because of delays in the build.

And the delays just keep on coming.

Whoever put it on should have allowed a 5-mil gap,

because it expands and shrinks, so when it's all tight like that,

if it expands, then it will all sort of pop off.

It can be annoying when something's done and then you have to

take it down and redo it, so...

Inside, Amjid has spared no expense on the fit out.

I know I'm way over budget, and that's one of my flaws.

I think it is not working out what things are going to cost.

I should have had money coming in, I've had no money coming in

for the last six months. It is a big pressure.

It's not just his own future that Amjid's worried about.

He's also a father of four.

Every man and woman out there, if they've got kids,

all they want to do is give them a better life.

I've put everything into this,

but it's still always at the back of your mind,

"What am I going to do? How am I going to provide?"

His solution...is drastic.

I'm having to put my house up for sale, actually,

to be honest with you,

which is not very pleasing, for me or my wife, the kids as well.

They're all upset about it that we are having to sell up now.

Mama!

It's a sacrifice we're going to have to make for the business.

Hopefully it will pay off, you know,

and the kids will understand why we had to do it, you know.

It's been one of the wettest winters in City Road's history.

Brrr, it's like a fridge in here, innit?

And at Passion, it's having an inevitable effect on business.

It's cold, because the shop is so big,

but if we put all the heaters on, the electric blows up!

Upstairs... All of this has got to go, everything.

..the weather is raining on Paul's parade, too.

This room wasn't even leaking before, was it?

And the state of the roof is putting the dampener on his plans to

convert the old stockroom into a gym.

The roof, it is a mess.

It is soaking through and through.

It needs replacing, but I think it is a 50, 60 grand job.

If they do put a new roof on it, we will end up paying for it in

the long-run anyway, because it'll just go on top of the rent.

Faith, meanwhile... Always the optimist.

..Is still keeping the...faith.

She knows it's not what you've got,

it's what you do with it that matters.

Always on the lookout to monetise the spare space in the building,

Faith has already converted the top floor into

a burlesque and pole dancing studio.

It's been a roaring success.

Up the belly. In more ways than one.

It's a great way of increasing footfall through the shop.

Obviously, with the dance lessons, if you need to dress up, then

my place is the place to come for that type of product that you need.

So the corsets and things are over there.

There are sparkly stuff all over the place. My favourite!

Sparkly shoes, little burlesque hats, feather boas,

so, double whammy. It's good all round.

One, two, three, four.

Left, right, left, right, excellent.

Downstairs, meanwhile,

the last customer of the day is buying for a very special occasion.

TRANSLATED FROM PORTUGUESE:

A pinata is a paper figure usually filled with sweets and toys

that's broken open at a kids' party.

Has our Portuguese speaking tourist come to the wrong place?

Everything inside the pinata, is it sexy? Everything's sexy? Yes.

This is party for sex.

Apparently not.

Hmm.

Adult pinata party, I mean... the mind boggles!

SHE LAUGHS

Bashing this thing, and what's going to come out of it?

The world takes all sorts of people, you know, to make it interesting.

Bye-bye, baby!

Bye-bye!

Perhaps it's the location that attracts the colourful customers.

City Road is the most eclectic mix of cultures and tastes.

Visitors here can sample the flavours of 18 different countries.

And behind every shop window,

there's a great story waiting to be told.

Come on, one more! Single-shot.

Good shot!

Tucked away on one of City Road's side streets

is the Ultimate Fitness Centre...

Again! Push off!

..where champions are made.

Denzil Lawrence, the owner, is a former world title kick boxer.

I was Welsh champion, I was British champion,

I became European champion, then I was world champion.

I've done it, and I'm proud of what I've done.

Now retired from fighting, Denzil trains current champions,

including his own son, Levi,

in a specially-designed combat fitness gym.

The gym we've got now is absolutely awesome.

Faster! Come on! Keep it going!

'You know, I fitted this on the gym that I would like to have gone to,'

when, you know, I used to fight.

Come on, come on, come on!

'In my gym, you've got all walks of life.'

And they all mix, they all get on.

Let's go, change up!

To me, it's the gym of the future.

Good, come on, get it up!

That's it!

Tonight, Denzil is throwing open the gym doors

to a bunch of boxing virgins.

We've got a lot of new faces today, which is awesome.

I think at the moment, we've got about 100 people.

These men, and a few women, are signing up to get fighting fit

for a white-collar boxing event that Denzil is organising.

APPLAUSE

Who thinks white collar boxing is easy?

LAUGHTER

'White collar boxing is something anyone can do.

'Teachers, doctors, civil servants,

'anyone who hasn't thrown one punch in their life.'

And they want to give up their free time, you know,

to raise money for charity.

So you're all going to train together for nine weeks,

and then you're going to step into the ring and fight each other,

basically, for charity, for Help For Heroes.

'A lot of people do not know what is involved,

'but it is an awesome journey,'

and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

You've seen the hero's six-minute kit...

If anyone can get this bunch punching above their weight,

its Denzil.

Denzil's held multiple titles and trained multiple champions,

including his son, Levi.

APPLAUSE

Tonight, it's standing room only,

but next week, when the fists start flying...

Hero for six minutes, yeah!

..who will still be standing?

PHONE RINGING, BLEEP

Hi, it's Amjid, could you please give me a call back?

It's six months since Amjid began work on his dream restaurant

on City Road.

By his original schedule, he should have opened weeks ago.

But without furniture, or even a kitchen fitted,

Amjid's nowhere near ready.

All this now... it's been like this for weeks.

Everything's just come to a total standstill,

doesn't matter who I phone, how many calls I make, nothing's happening.

I had a delivery yesterday, but I'm waiting on, um...

kitchen equipment arriving.

'Ah, right, yeah, it's...'

Is there any deliveries due today?

Because the plumbers and the gas guys won't come out

until that stuff's on site.

'I'm so sorry, I can quite understand.

'Just bear with me a second and I'm going to get you through.'

HE SIGHS DEEPLY

For Amjid, it's not just the timescale that's the problem.

There's no money coming in, all the money's went out.

I've just got a gas bill for ?796,

but we've not used any gas whatsoever.

Can you believe that?

Amjid and his wife, Uzma,

have thrown everything they have into making the restaurant work.

My dreams and my wife's dreams,

they're all pinned on this restaurant now.

We've put everything we've had into this one project.

It's a big gamble.

And if it doesn't pay off, erm...

I don't know if you'll say you're going to be out on the streets,

but you're going to be... You know, everything you're going to lose,

everything that we've worked for over the years.

By the time Roy the engineer turns up, Amjid is at rock bottom.

MUSIC: Three Little Birds by Bob Marley

When I normally work, I play music, otherwise nothing much gets done.

I'm absolutely... I'm nearly in tears just now, you know?

No, I'm going to cry now, so I have to get off the phone, mate, OK?

# Singin' don't worry about a thing,

# Cos every little thing gonna be all right... #

Come on, man, you can't be looking stressed like this.

AMJID CHUCKLES

Eh? You can't change it, can you? No.

If you could change it, then OK, but when it is what it is...

ROY CHUCKLES You know what I mean? I know.

I know. That's how it goes.

But he's not looking too good, is he?

Come on, Am.

Sit up, man! Yeah, yeah, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up. Eh?

I'm up, bruv. You would think his world is over.

And it's not even begun yet!

THEY LAUGH

Hasn't started yet!

I know, I know, you're right, you're right,

see, this guy motivates me!

Come on, man. Yeah, yeah. Got to get up.

I've got to go back up there, OK? Speak to you later.

All right, see you in a bit. All right.

# ..Don't worry... #

These guys just make me feel at home.

They just make me feel as if I'm one of them,

like they're looking after me, and that means so much to me.

Turning me into a Cardiff boy, you know? HE LAUGHS

I... I'd fly the Welsh flag as much as I would fly

the flipping Scottish flag, put it that way, you know?

That's how much these guys have been doing for me, you know?

# Singin' don't worry about a thing... #

SIREN WAILS

Oh, my word! Look at that!

A few weeks later, the residents of City Road get a reminder

of just how quickly the best-laid business plans can go up in flames.

Oh, God. You've just got to be so careful.

You'll be out of business. It's devastating.

I'm just hoping that this ambulance isn't for one of the firefighters.

This year, the street and its residents

have seen their fair share of drama.

This is the third fire in City Road in, like, a month.

SHE SIGHS Scary.

But City Roaders are made of strong stuff.

And sometimes, after the darkest of nights...

..come the brightest of dawns.

AMJID CHUCKLES

FIRE ENGINE BEEPS

Last night there was a...

a major fire on City Road, just across the road from here.

This morning, I was hoping to come down,

cos we were expecting a big delivery coming for the rest of the stuff

from the catering company, you know?

Er... But all the roads have been blocked off.

There was a lot of police, kind of, activity going on.

It's all happening in City Road.

It's the place to be for action, without a doubt!

And, you know, it's kind of brought...

I know I shouldn't say it, but it's kind of brought

a small smile to my face, you know, a bit of action.

Erm... With everything that's been going on with me.

Obviously, circumstances, you know, I can't do nothing about that.

Whoa.

AMJID CHUCKLES

Hey, come on, son, let's go.

'You're going as well, you think, "You know what?

' "Yeah...we've come too far now to look back."

' "We're going to smash it. Absolutely going to smash it!" '

HE LAUGHS

BALLOON INFLATES

It's Valentine's Day, and at Passion, everyone...

..and every thing, is feeling the love.

There we are.

It's Valentine's Day every day in here.

So we thought we'd have a little bit of an event, just to celebrate that.

Even on the most romantic day of the year,

Faith has to work hard to pull in the punters.

Just make this place look beautiful!

City Road is such a diverse road,

but it's not anywhere where I'd get footfall, there's...

you know, no passing trade for my business,

so we are promoting ourselves, and, you know,

being out there a bit more.

Oh, no! What?

They're all tangling! Help!

BURLESQUE MUSIC PLAYS

Inside, too, Faith wants to woo her customers...

Hello! How's it going?

..and has asked the girls from her burlesque fitness class

to provide the entertainment.

It all seems to be bringing out people's romantic sides...

There you go, my lovely, all right?

..as well as their wallets. Thank you very much.

I'm getting good at this, aren't I?

SHE LAUGHS

With new assistant Siobhan holding the fort,

Faith's grand plan to increase the bottom line and diversify...

Whoo! ..is coming together.

APPLAUSE

Yeah! Sexy!

Having Siobhan there is definitely going to actually

free me up a little, and then I can concentrate

on running every part of the business.

It's a business that's now making an impact.

Don't load it up, just pop it out!

Put a left hook on the end.

Upstairs, Paul's plans to turn Faith's warehouse into a war house

have finally come together.

The room's ready, more or less.

Now I've got to fill it, I've got to pay for it.

Got all the gear, I just need hands to put inside them. So...

A four-shot combo. One-two, left hook, straight right.

It's just such a relief to have it up and running.

It was a great use of the room.

The way it was before it wasn't really making any money.

So I think Paul's happy now, as well,

and I think he'll be with us for a while.

SHE CHUCKLES I can't get rid of him now!

You really think your Man Friday would have left you stranded, Faith?

No, I wouldn't have left.

Family and friends - family and friends first.

Probably cost me over the years, but, er...

I can sleep at night, though.

Straight right.

Aww!

I love watching him doing this.

I want to have a go! SHE CHUCKLES

You go, girl!

MUSIC: U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer

While Faith and Paul are just starting

to punch their way into profit...

..down the road at Ultimate Fitness...

OK, the old MC Hammer shit! OK, let's go!

..the gloves are off.

..eight, nine...

Last week, 120 people signed up to be a hero for six minutes

in Denzil's amateur boxing charity challenge.

# Break it down! #

Come on, left hook, come on.

'It's three two-minute rounds, so you fight for six minutes.'

Shake the sides, and keep punching.

It's going to be the hardest six minutes of your life.

Come on! Single punch! Come on!

Two people who are determined to go the distance are Mo...

Come on! Push me back!

..and Charlie. Whoa, OK, guys!

OK!

One thing I do like about Charlie, I think she's quite aggressive,

she's quite spunky.

My husband thinks it's a stupid idea, but, hey.

SHE CHUCKLES

That was torture, that was.

From what I've seen of Mo, you know, I think he lacks a lot of fitness,

but he hasn't done nothing whatsoever before, so,

you know, fair dos, I take my hat off to anyone who wants to do this.

That's good, keep going, keep going.

Mo and Charlie have their own reasons for wanting to take part.

I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie,'

and I always need something in life to challenge me, to be honest.

Come on!

'Fitness-wise, getting better fitness.

'I wanted to lose some weight as well.'

2016 - new year, new me.

The minds are willing...

Jab out, come on, let's go.

..but with just nine weeks to go before they have to fight,

will these bodies be able?

Of course I'll make it to the end.

Don't know whether I'll win or lose - it doesn't matter.

It's just a new challenge - just getting to the end is what counts.

Obviously there's, erm...

There's boys in here who've been boxing four, five years,

so that's why, like...

if I train hard enough, maybe I'll get them to fight.

We'll see.

While for some, the hard work is just beginning...

First training session out of the way. Well done.

..for others on City Road...

Wahey!

..there's plenty of time for fun...

I can't wait to go to bed.

..and a chance to make a brighter future,

in which everyone has their moment to be a hero.

I love you, Dave!

# I got the eye of the tiger A fighter

# Dancing through the fire

# Cos I am the champion

# And you're gonna hear me roar. #