Built in 1862 to the designs of award-winning Yorkshire architect Cuthbert Broderick, the Corn Exchange was brought back to life in 1990 as a shopping centre.This extraordinary building houses independent designers, some with an international reputation, of clothing, footwear and jewellery. Every aspect of the contemporary lifestyle is catered for, with shops selling items as diverse as glassware and pottery, DJ turntables and extreme sports equipment.

A change of ownership in spring 1998 has brought The Corn Exchange into the 21st Century. Autumn 1999 saw a redecoration, with a highly modern colour scheme, and an exhibition of giant mobiles, hung in the cavernous ceiling space.

The Corn Exchange - Leeds The Balcony

The Corn Exchange has been described as one of Britains finest mid-Victorian Buildings. Superbly converted to a shopping centre in 1990 it has remained a thriving and bustling centre of trade. The range of wares on offer in its shops are of far more interest to todays discerning shopper than the grain and leather traded here from the 1860s and well into the late 1900s.

Above the shops rises the great elliptical dome, 75ft to its highest point, and a masterpiece of Victorian engineering. The large glazed panels were designed to provide the optimum quality of natural lighting on to the floor below, so that those trading grain at the small black desks could accurately judge the quality of the merchandise. The sense of space and light continues to be utilised today with magnificent displays of modern art.

A triumph for conservation the Corn Exchange still retains a sense of its history within the scale and majesty of the interior. Around the walls are two tiers of arches in coloured and moulded brickwork giving access to the shop units. These originally housed individual corn-factors offices. The upper tier being served by a broad gallery edged with cast-iron railings. The original trading floor, having been partially removed, exposes the former basement, now the Piazza with more shops, a bar and caf.

The Corn Exchange - Leeds The Piazza

While you roam around the shops or sit a while in the caf or bar, let your mind take you back in time to when this area of the building served a totally different purpose.In 1862 the central fire station was transferred from the Court House to the basement of the new Corn Exchange. Whilst it provided a much needed service in the 1870s there was considerable public disquiet about the way in which the towns brigade raced the Insurance companies fire fighters to get to fires and how they repeatedly tried to impede each others progress. (American ambulances appear to continue this tradition!).One critic complained of engines rushing through the streets with their thundering steeds and crashing wheels, threatening death and destruction to all who cross their path.Thankfully the air now holds scents of delicious foods and music wafts where once fire horses whinnied.