Owing to anti-Catholicism in the area, plans to extend East Grove, forming a junction with Richmond Road, were scrapped because the objectors did not want a Catholic church fronting a main street.

The area was much-afflicted by poverty and drunkenness, and was far away from the Catholic districts, making work challenging for early priests, and low attendance figures were often a problem.

After the conversion of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, to Catholicism in 1868, and a rigorous fundraising programme, the situation began to improve, with the founding of a school in 1872.

[4] As the Cathedral in the city centre had been very badly damaged during a 1941 air raid, episcopal functions moved into St Peter's between 1941 and 1945.

[7] Between 1970 and 1987, the priest at St Peter's was Father Gil Jones, who welcomed the visiting Pope John Paul II to Cardiff on 2 April 1982.