many major banks. Also fronting onto the street is Howells department store, which stretches from just after Cardiff Central Market to the corner of Wharton Street. From August 2007 the street was closed to private vehicles, leaving only buses, cycles and taxis allowed to access the whole street. The street is usually closed to all traffic every Friday and Saturday night to allow the efflux from night clubs and pubs located in that part of the street to clear. It is also closed when major events take place such as at the Millennium Stadium. The Prince Of Wales is a prominent J D Wetherspoon establishment at the junction with Wood Street, which leads to Central Station. At the northern end of the street is Castle Street and Cardiff Castle. To the south is Callaghan Square. Womanby Street Womanby Street is one of Cardiff's oldest streets. It is known for its small, independent live music venues and is home to Clwb Ifor Bach. It is accessed from Castle Street, between Westgate Street and High Street. Queen Street and vicinity Queen Street () is the main thoroughfare in the city, now wholly pedestrianised. Most of Queen Street, from the castle moat to Dumfries Place, used to be called Crockherbtown (Crockherbtown Lane can still be found off Park Place), but the street was renamed in honour of Queen Victoria in 1886. Queen Street was pedestrianised in 1974 and is served by Cardiff Queen Street railway station on Station Terrace. It meets Dumfries Place/Newport Road at its eastern end, Duke Street/Castle Street at its western, and Park Place approximately halfway along. Further down Park Place is the New Theatre, a local landmark is Principality House, head office of the Principality Building Society. To the north running parallel is Greyfriars Road, referring to the site of an old monastery, a traditional office location that has recently seen conversion to bars, apartments and hotels as offices move to the new business parks on the edge of the city, or to the better connected southern end of the city centre. Charles Street, named after the landowner (and twice Cardiff mayor) Charles Vachell, was originally built in the 1840s as luxury housing. When Cardiff's new drainage was being devised, in 1849, Charles Street was described as Cardiff's "principal street". It joins the north side of Queen Street about half way along its length. The street became more commercial