Queens Hall was a concert and exhibition venue located in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. It was originally a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

and then a bus depot and had latterly become a venue hosting events such as the Ideal Home Exhibition and the 1981, 1982, 1988 and 1989

Great British Beer Festival The Great British Beer Festival (sometimes abbreviated as GBBF) is an annual beer festival organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). It presents a selection of cask ales, and the Champion Beer of Britain awards, and is held in August of ...

flea markets A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously owned (secondhand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal' ...

, 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, 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 music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...

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 (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

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 Leeds Arena (currently known as the first direct bank arena for sponsorship reasons) 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 ...

, opened in 2013, became a new concert venue in the city.

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 Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

for Royal London Insurance and a latter proposal in 2004 for two skyscrapers to be named Criterion Place designed by

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 SimpsonHaugh & Pa ...

to be developed by Simons Estates. Neither of these proposals came 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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* Rush *

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* T'Pau *

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* The Damned *

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* U2 (1980) *

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/ Battleaxe All Day Festival 1983 *

(1981 and 1984) *

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* Dio *

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* Futurama Festival (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 West Yorkshire Redevelopment projects in the United Kingdom

History

Redevelopment

Performers

See also

References

External links