First Leeds Cloth Hall

The First Leeds Cloth Hall, located on Kirkgate, Leeds, is a significant early 18th-century building of group value, with later 19th and 20th-century alterations for use as shops. Constructed in 1711, it represents the first purpose-built cloth hall in Leeds, designed to facilitate the trade of undyed cloth, previously sold in Briggate market.

The building is a brick structure, partly rendered, with stone dressings, a slate and concrete tile roof, and quoins. It has a U-plan, comprising a main range set back from the street, with hipped roof wings extending forward to the street edge, creating a courtyard. The street frontage features 2 first-floor windows to each wing, with four-pane sashes and wedge lintels; smaller windows below the eaves on the second floor have stone sills. Modern shop fronts occupy the ground floor. The courtyard elevations are of two stories, showcasing a round-headed arcade on plain stone piers with moulded bases and caps at ground floor level. Above this, round-headed windows are set within brick arches, many of which are now blocked or contain later windows. Some walling has been rebuilt with a different design.

The interior retains part of the original roof structure consisting of king-posts with braces extending to the ridge pole.

Historically, the hall was conceived in 1710, documented in the diary of Ralph Thoresby, following construction of a similar hall in Wakefield. It opened on 29 May 1711, providing storerooms for clothiers from various townships. Described as "a stately hall built on pillars on arches in the form of an exchange," the building played a vital role in the town’s cloth trade, connecting to warehouses and dyehouses via High Back Lane and Low Back Lane. Subsequent cloth halls were built elsewhere in Leeds (Crown Street in 1776 and Meadow Lane in 1758, the latter now demolished). In the 19th century, the hall was converted to an alehouse and shops, with houses built across the courtyard, and conversion of the hall arms into houses. A detailed survey was undertaken by the West Yorkshire Archaeological Unit around 1985.