Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Jungpionier assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Shopping in surroundings to rival any of Leeds' fine arcades. Located just to the south of Kirkgate markets on Vicar Lane. Designed by Cuthbert Broderick and architecturally based on the Paris corn exchange. A largely elliptical building, crowned with a great glass dome roof, that allows light to stream in even on the greyest Yorkshire winter mornings - necessary because grain traders required good lighting to determine the quality of the grain. (Broderick was also architect of Leeds town hall and the Leeds Mechanics' Institute, Millennium Square, Two shops designed by Broderick still survive opposite the Mechanics Institute on Cookridge Street, now converted into a cocktail bar.)
The Leeds Corn Exchange is a shopping centre in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The building was opened as a corn exchange in 1864. It was granted grade I listed building status in 1951.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
This traditional British market is the largest in Europe. Housed in an opulent late Victorian palace to commerce, it has both indoor and outdoor stalls. Marks and Spencer had their first establishment here called, 'Marks Penny Bazaar'.
An unassuming location and exterior hide an elegant baroque interior, built for the merchant class by subscription and donation so they could worship well away from the lower working classes of the city. The Iconic spire of Holy Trinity has dominated the skyline of the city for hundreds of years and was restored in 2006/7.
When the Victorian civic authorities sought to improve the sights and foul smells of Briggate and the city centre, they demolished some of the city's dirtiest yards, alleyways, shambles and lanes and built covered shopping arcades filled with fine establishments. These catered for the refined tastes of the growing moneyed classes of Leeds. This rebuilding continued into Edwardian times and the legacy is some of Europe's finest, most elegant shopping locations. Today these arcades are home to some of the most exclusive designer shops in Great Britain (Vivienne Westwood, Hugo Boss, Luis Vuitton and Harvey Nichols to name a few).
Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds
An attractive and fairly large neo-gothic church with a renowned choir and concerts from time to time. During the rebuilding of the Parish church in Victorian times, the original Saxon crosses where Leeds folk would have worshipped in the 8/9th centuries (well before the first church of Leeds had been founded) were unearthed in the medieval tower and is permanently on display inside.
World famous and has even had Charlie Chaplin tread the boards. Home to a mix of shows.