The elliptical dome
A vast timber-and-glass roof from 1864 modelled on the Paris grain hall, and the real reason to come.
Look up the moment you step inside; the dome is the whole story. A vast elliptical roof of timber and glass floats over an open hall, modelled on the Paris grain hall and designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, the architect who gave Leeds its Town Hall. It opened in 1864 so that wheat and barley merchants could haggle over the season's prices. From the street the building is a squat Italianate drum with a diamond-studded stone skin, and it gives away nothing of what is waiting under the roof. The merchants left long ago and the Grade I listed hall now works as a covered market for independents: more than forty small shops spread over the open floor, the gallery circling above it and a lower floor below, among them local fashion designers, vintage clothing, handmade jewellery, houseplants, candles, a couple of small cafés and an ice-cream parlour. That makes this a retail visit rather than a museum one. There are no information panels, no tickets and no guides. You walk in while the shops are trading, take in the ceiling, get the well-known photograph from the upper gallery, and either leave or stay to browse. Allow twenty to thirty minutes if you have come for the architecture alone, and double it if the shops catch you. Children enjoy the circular space and the staircases, and a pushchair or wheelchair manages easily: there is a ramp at the front entrance and a lift to every floor. Entry is free during shop hours: 10:00 to 18:00 most days, until 21:00 on Thursdays, and 10:30 to 16:30 on Sundays and bank holidays. Do not turn up on a Sunday evening or before ten, because the doors will be shut. The location makes it a natural stop rather than a destination in its own right. It stands at the foot of Briggate, a ten-minute walk from Leeds station, three minutes from Kirkgate Market and directly across the road from the Victoria Leeds arcades. On a wet day, and Leeds supplies plenty, the three together form a fully covered route you can walk without ever opening an umbrella.
A vast timber-and-glass roof from 1864 modelled on the Paris grain hall, and the real reason to come.
Local designers, vintage clothing, handmade jewellery and houseplants around the open floor and its gallery, with no chain stores.
Three minutes from Kirkgate Market and opposite the Victoria Leeds arcades, so it completes an indoor walk that needs no umbrella.
Call Lane, Leeds LS1 7BR
Yes, but for twenty minutes rather than an hour. The dome alone justifies walking in and taking the photograph from the upper gallery, and after that there is nothing left but the shops. Treat it as a short stop between Kirkgate Market and the Victoria arcades, not as a headline sight of your day in Leeds.
The ground floor is open and easy with a pushchair, and a lift reaches both the gallery and the lower floor, so nothing is off limits. Children like the circular space and the ice-cream parlour, but the shops are small, pricey and not aimed at them, so a visit with kids is naturally a short one.