The imposing Victorian Town Hall seems to symbolise Leeds' position as the commercial
capital of the region. It was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, who was also responsible
for municipal buildings in Scarborough and Hull. Now the Town Hall here, was the subject
of a massive capital overspend. When building began, it was supposed to cost £22,000. But,
by the time Queen Victoria came here to open it in 1858, that figure had spiralled to £133,000.
But, that did not stop the City Fathers’: they went on to erect other splendid municipal
buildings like the library and the art gallery.
By the 1920s, Leeds wanted a new look to contrast
with the Victorian Town Hall. So, the administrative centre of the city, the Civic Hall, was designed
and built in white Portland stone from Dorset. But, if you look over here, there’s another
Brodrick building, rather more traditional, it’s the old Mechanics’ Institute, now
redesigned and laid out as the magnificent Leeds City Museum. But, if we stroll over
here, and have a look and see what on earth are these two great big owls…
The owls are part of the Leeds Coat of Arms. And they come to the city courtesy of Sir John Savile. Now,
he has them in his coat of arms as well. Sir John Savile was the one, who in 1625, successfully
petitioned King Charles I to allow the city to become a Borough and administer itself
with Aldermen and a Corporation.
If I’d stood on this spot in medieval times, I could
have looked straight down there to the bridge over the river Aire. And that’s how Bridge
Gate or Briggate got its name. Now, in those medieval times, there would have been regular
sized plots of land down each side of the street - in front of the shops, in front of
the houses. But despite the passage of the years, not everything round here has changed…
Running off Briggate there are still in existence a number of the old medieval streets, in one,
for example, you can find now the world famous City Varieties music hall. But all these streets
were the same length and the same width; and each property on these streets would have
had its own small plot of land known as a Burgage. But, come across the road for one
of the iconic sights in Leeds today…
It is, of course, that shopper's paradise the
up-market department store, Harvey Nichols. A place every city would love to have in its
city centre. But although Harvey Nichols may represent retail ecstasy for some people,
for others the great arcades of Briggate take a lot of beating.
But where did the money for all this development come from?
Well, if you’d been on Briggate in the 18th century,
you’d have been surrounded by a busy cloth market on both sides of the street.
Indeed, business was so brisk, that by the end of the century, permanent cloth halls were being
built to keep pace with demand for buying and selling. It underlined one important point:
Leeds had become the trading centre for the Yorkshire textile industry.
This building down here, at the end of the street, is the third of the permanent Cloth Halls to be built.
It dates back to 1776. At its height it contained 1,213 stalls; and it was buying and selling
two-thirds of the entire output of the Yorkshire textile industry.
But now though, it’s time to visit, over here, probably one of the most beautiful buildings
in the entire city of Leeds…
This is the Corn Exchange. It’s another masterpiece by Cuthbert Brodrick
and it was opened back in 1862.
By late Victorian times every conceivable sort of goods seemed
to be flowing through Leeds. There was textiles, agricultural produce, coal, wood, stone, and
chemicals - you name it. And the reason was, by then, Leeds was already at the centre of
a transport network of railways, roads and canals. Indeed, goods for export could go
straight onto a barge here in the centre of Leeds and go directly to the Humber ports.
There may no longer be markets and merchants all over Briggate; but other industries have
arisen to take their place, for example, Leeds is now a major centre for the financial services
industry. Then, many of the major law firms have bases here. And, of course, we mustn’t
forget the visitors, the tourists, who come to see attractions like the Royal Armouries.
While there are other people who come here who want to live in one of the magnificent
luxurious apartments overlooking the waterfront. And, of course, perhaps, most important for
all, for some people, are those twin attractions: retail therapy and nightlife.
Leeds is indeed, a city constantly reinventing itself.