Queens Hall was a concert and exhibition venue located in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

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. It was originally a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

and then a

bus depot A bus garage, also known as a bus depot, bus base or bus barn, is a facility where buses are stored and maintained. In many conurbations, bus garages are on the site of former car barns or tram sheds, where trams (streetcars) were stored, and ...

and had latterly become a venue hosting events such as the

Ideal Home Exhibition The Ideal Home Show (formerly called the Ideal Home Exhibition) is an annual event in London, England, held at Olympia . The show was devised by the '' Daily Mail'' newspaper in 1908 and continued to be run by the ''Daily Mail'' until 2009. It ...

and the 1981, 1982, 1988 and 1989

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, travelling fairs and concerts.

History

The building was originally constructed at the turn of the 20th century and was known as Swinegate Tram Depot. The hall was refurbished as a music venue in 1961 and was a popular venue amongst students and the townspeople of Leeds with a capacity for 5,000 people. The very first event to be held there was the Yorkshire Ideal Home & Food Exhibition (5–20 May 1961), sponsored by ''

The Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

''. Over the years the Queens Hall had been as a venue for popular music.

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

complained about the acoustics, and it was uncomfortably cold in winter, with ice forming on the retained tramlines. As far back as the 1980s there was talk of an arena for Leeds and by that time the Queens Hall was in need of extensive modernisation to bring it up to an acceptable standard. The Queens Hall was demolished in 1989 and the site is now mostly used as a surface level car park with redevelopment taking place on part of the site for a

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

with ground floor restaurant and an office building for BT. Construction work to add two additional storeys to the Criterion Place multi-storey car park began in July 2008. The

Leeds Arena The First Direct Arena (also known as the Leeds Arena) is an entertainment-focused indoor arena located in the Arena Quarter of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the first in the United Kingdom to have a fan-shaped orientation. The arena of ...

, opened in 2013, became a new concert venue in Leeds.

Redevelopment

Proposals for the redevelopment of the rest of the former Queens Hall site have been ongoing since the 1990s with failed proposals including those from 1995 for an office building designed by

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

for

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and a latter proposal in 2004 for two skyscrapers to be named

Criterion Place Criterion Place was a proposed skyscraper development in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. In July 2008 it was announced that the project is to be cancelled owing to the property market slump. Background The site, which is surrounded by Neville ...

SimpsonHaugh and Partners SimpsonHaugh (formerly Ian Simpson Architects) is an English architecture practice established in 1987 by Ian Simpson and Rachel Haugh. The practice has offices in London and Manchester. In 2014, the practice re-branded as Simpson Haugh & Par ...

to be developed by Simons Estates. Neither of these proposals went to fruition but plans to complete the redevelopment of the former Queens Hall site were realised in 2015 when new business premises called Sovereign Square were built on the site.

Performers

Bands and musicians to have performed at the Queens Hall have included the following acts: *

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* T'Pau *

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* The Damned *

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All Day Festival 1983 *

(1981 and 1984) *

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* Dio *

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(1979, 1980 and 1983)

References

External links

Secret Leeds thread on the Leeds Queens HallQueens Hall at the Leodis photographic archive
{{Authority control Exhibition and conference centres in England Music venues in Leeds Buildings and structures in Leeds Buildings and structures demolished in 1989 Demolished buildings and structures in England Redevelopment projects in the United Kingdom

History

Redevelopment

Performers

See also

References

External links