Leeds Arcades and the Victoria Quarter: A Local's Guide
Clockwork knights, Robin Hood striking the hour and a stained-glass roof the length of a street: how to walk the Leeds arcades properly, with a pint at the end.
By Only Leeds Editorial
The Leeds arcades are a run of covered Victorian shopping streets off Briggate: Thornton's Arcade with its Ivanhoe Clock, Queen's Arcade, the Grand Arcade on New Briggate, and the Victoria Quarter's County and Cross Arcades under Brian Clarke's stained-glass roof, now joined to Victoria Gate and John Lewis. Walk them in an hour, or take all afternoon with stops for coffee and a pint. This is how locals do it.
Why Leeds has arcades
When Leeds became a borough in 1207, the land either side of Briggate was cut into narrow burgage plots, long strips running back from the street. By the Victorian era those strips were filled with yards and alleys, and developers roofed them over with glass and iron. The result is a city centre where you can cross half of town without getting wet, which in Leeds counts as civic genius.
Thornton's Arcade
The first, completed in May 1878 for Charles Thornton, who also owned the City Varieties music hall. His architect, George Smith, had designed the Varieties too. The star is the Ivanhoe Clock at the west end, made by the Leeds clockmakers Potts & Sons, with carved figures from Walter Scott's novel by John Wormald Appleyard: Robin Hood in green, Friar Tuck in black, Richard the Lionheart in red and Gurth the Swineherd in khaki. Stand under it on the hour. The arcade was restored in the early 1990s.
Queen's Arcade
Leeds's second arcade opened in 1889 on the site of the old Rose and Crown Yard, with its Briggate entrance enlarged in 1895. It was refurbished in 1994 and runs parallel to Thornton's, so do one down and the other back.
The Grand Arcade
Up on New Briggate, the Grand Arcade opened in July 1898, designed by Smith and Tweedale and now Grade II listed. Its Vicar Lane entrance has an animated Potts of Leeds clock: armoured knights strike two bells while guardsmen rotate through little doors below the face on the hour. The arcade's northern half became the Tower Cinema in 1920 and later a nightclub.
The Victoria Quarter
This is the grand one. County Arcade and Cross Arcade were designed by Frank Matcham, better known for theatres, and built between 1898 and 1904 for the Leeds Estate Company. The Victoria Quarter is Grade II* listed. When it was restored around 1990, Brian Clarke designed a stained-glass roof over the whole of Queen Victoria Street, 749 square metres of glass stretching 125 metres. On a sunny day it throws colour across the pavement; on a grey one, which is most of them, it is still the prettiest street in the city. Harvey Nichols opened here in 1996, its first store outside London.
Victoria Gate
Next door, Victoria Gate opened in 2016 as a £165 million extension, anchored by John Lewis. Together with the Quarter it trades as Victoria Leeds, where most stores open Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm, with longer hours in the weeks before Christmas. Harvey Nichols has a Fourth Floor Brasserie and Bar if you fancy lunch.
Kirkgate Market and the Corn Exchange
Two more Victorian roofs within a few minutes. Kirkgate Market on Vicar Lane, where Marks & Spencer began as a penny bazaar in 1884, has the Grade I listed 1904 Hall and opens Monday to Saturday 8am to 5.30pm. On Call Lane, the Corn Exchange is Cuthbert Brodrick's Grade I listed building from 1864, now full of independent traders, open until 9pm on Thursdays and 10.30am to 4.30pm on Sundays.
A pint between arcades
Briggate's yards hide more than shops. In Turk's Head Yard, Whitelock's calls itself the oldest pub in Leeds and dates itself to 1715; the building was converted into its present form in 1880, with marble counters, engraved mirrors and brasswork, and it still pours real ale with home-cooked food. Up on New Briggate, near the Grand Arcade, North Bar has been serving good beer since 1997.
How to walk it
Start at the Grand Arcade on New Briggate on the hour for the knights, cross to Kirkgate Market, then come back through Victoria Gate into the Victoria Quarter. Cross Briggate into Queen's Arcade, return through Thornton's for the Ivanhoe Clock, then duck into Turk's Head Yard for a half at Whitelock's. Finish at the Corn Exchange if it is a Thursday and you still have money left.
