Mario’s Taxi Service

There’s a taxi rank opposite the Admiral Napier on Albert Street where it meets Cowbridge Road East. This happens to be in very easy walking distance of the shopping area of Cowbridge Road East, which is predominantly comprised of restaurants and take-​aways. Nevertheless, there’s a little enclave of good independent shops like Laura’s fruit and veg, but there’s also a Tesco Metro, which I guess justifies the taxi rank just that little bit more… shame though it is! There’s also a couple of other pubs as well as the Napier, The Ivor Davies and The Goscombe, all within fifty yards of each other, offering further justification for the number of taxis that line up here.
The drivers all tend to own their own cabs, or work for minicab companies, and usually drive modern saloons, or the seven-​seater model of car that have become more common in recent years. Very few of them drive the old fashion Hackney cabs, but Mario Derbi, a one man band, who regularly lines up at this spot, owns a beautiful old style shiny, curvaceous black Hackney, that looks so much more beautiful than all the others.