The Piece Hall in Halifax has reopened after a three-year £20m restoration project.
Once dubbed the Milan of the North the 300-plus retail units in the Grade 1 listed building will now host a number of new traders, independent shops, cafes and bars.
Among them are women’s clothing shops Jitterbug Jean and House of 925; confectioners Spogs & Spice and The Chocolate Box; Gin Lane, a gin shop and tasting venue; gift shop Brown Paper Bag; food establishments The Deli, ice cream parlour Blondin’s.
The Piece Hall Gallery and The Piece Hall Shop will offer a range of bespoke products featuring the work of some of Yorkshire’s finest artists and makers.
And there is so much more.
The doors opened at 9:30am and at 10am, Halifax-born British wheelchair racer and Paralympian Hannah Cockcroft MBE rang The Piece Hall bell to mark the start of trading, echoing the first ever day of business in 1779.
The transformation has been made possible thanks to funding from Calderdale Council, a £7 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and support from the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Wolfson Foundation.
Members of the public are now again able to explore the building and experience the immense, open air piazza – once used for the trading of cloth and to host amazing spectacles.
It will provide a stunning backdrop for a seasonal programme of events which will attract estimated footfall of 1.6m through the gates every year.
Nicky Chance Thompson, chief executive of The Piece Hall Trust, an independent charity formed to manage The Piece Hall, said: “For anyone that has yet to experience The Piece Hall, it’s not easy to get across the scale and grandeur of the place.
“It brings to mind Covent Garden’s ‘Floral market’ with a grand courtyard that is reminiscent of Somerset House, combined with magnificent Italian-style architecture.
“Given the phenomenal 200-year history of the building and scale of the transformation, it’s incredible that until now, it has been one of the North’s best kept secrets, but that’s all about to change.”
So, what can visitors expect?
Well, the sloping central courtyard has been levelled. The cobblestones, which everyone thinks were original but definitely weren’t, have gone – they were laid in the 1970s.
And instead what has been created is one of the most striking piazzas in Europe, fit for 21st century public use, and measuring a vast 66,000 sq ft. It will host a seasonal programme of events with capacity for up to 7,500 people, set against the dramatic backdrop of the Georgian arcades.
The courtyard features new lighting, seating and two cascading water features which sit within the north-west and south-east corners and loosely interpret the historical importance of water in the production of cloth.
Three new spaces are dedicated to The Piece Hall’s remarkable heritage and its significance as the only surviving cloth hall in the UK.
The interpretation spaces include ‘The Piece Hall Story’ which reveals the history of The Piece Hall with a particular focus on the Georgian period during its heyday as a cloth hall and a magnet for the world’s woollen trade.
In addition there is a trader’s unit fitted out with audio visuals to recreate the atmosphere of a bustling trading day in The Piece Hall and the map room with interactive displays to enable visitors to explore a range of local, national and international maps which place The Piece Hall in its global context.
A new east extension at The Piece Hall provides facilities for a three-story restaurant and cocktail bar and links through to Square Chapel Arts Centre which recently opened a new £6.6m extension featuring a new theatre, cinema and café bar.
