November 9th-10th. No Ordinary Balloon Company will be back in the heart of Yorkshire and turning on the creative juices.
The Corn exchange was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, a Hull architect best known for Leeds Town Hall, and built between 1861 and 1863.[1] The dome design was based on that of the Bourse de commerce of Paris by François-Joseph Bélanger and François Brunet, completed in 1811.[2] In the late 1980s Speciality Shops plc restored it and converted it into a retail facility.[3]
After a further restoration in 2007, the Corn Exchange re-opened in November 2008 as a boutique shopping centre for independent retailers. The 13,200-square-foot (1,230 m2) ground level was occupied by Piazza by Anthony until its sudden closure in June 2013.[4]
In 2017 the Corn Exchange was acquired by property company Rushbond.[5]
As of 2019 the Corn Exchange contains about 30 independent retailers and food outlets.[6] It is described as “one of only three remaining Corn Exchanges still functioning as a centre for trade in Britain”, albeit no longer functioning as a corn exchange.[5]
The building was depicted in an official BBC trailer for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup (in reference to Leeds being one of the host cities).[7]
