Byram Arcade, Huddersfield

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Byram Arcade in Huddersfield is unique in having three storeys, all of which have active businesses operating still today, unlike the handful of other arcades around the UK which can claim to climb up three floors.

The glass ceiling was repaired in 2024, bringing brightness and light back to this thriving arcade full of independent, arty businesses. It calls itself The Makers’ Arcade.  There’s an excellent yarn shop, an art supplies shop, a very good coffee shop/cafe and a shop specialising in loose-leaf tea (not a tea room, so if you want a cuppa, you’ll find their teas in the cafe on the ground floor).

The cafe used to be a bar in the 1980s, and sitting next to me, as I had my tea there, was a musician who used to play jazz 40 years ago on the very spot where he was sitting in 2024.

There’s a jewellery shop, and a photography studio, giving the arcade a wonderful link back to one of its early tenants from the 1880s, and the photography shop is up five attractive steps (so not particularly accessible in 21st century terms). Inside the photographer’s is an old vintage postcard from one of the Victorian-era predecessors of his business (and John Woods, who runs this place, is the first person I have met who also owns a copy of Margaret MacKeith’s 1983 arcades book!)

The entrance to the arcade is famous for its griffins guarding the doorway, and a decorative arch through which you walk into the arcade from Westgate, and superb tiled flooring which may well be original from this arcade’s early 1880s days.

The two upstairs balconies have attractive ironwork railings with wooden banisters, and there is a partial further balcony up on a 4th floor, though this is not occupied by any of the actual shops in the arcade. The lamps dotted around the arcade are probably not original but give the whole place a real vintage feel.

My pick of the arcade’s past

Vincent Hatch, calling himself ‘photographer royal,’ (‘patronised by Her Majesty the Queen, and all the Royal Family’) moved into a large studio in Byram Arcade in 1884. He had been based in Richmond (SW London) previously and kept a property there still after the move to Huddersfield, though his move did not go without complications, and he took the removalists to court for damages to some items of his property, and for mixing up which pieces of furniture should have stayed in London, and which moved to Yorkshire. The judge found in favour of the removal company, and clearly felt that Hatch should not have taken the case to court (let alone appeal for a retrial a few months later).

The Great Depression of the early 1930s was visible in Byram Arcade, with the local paper, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner reporting direct in December 1930 as the offices of the Cinderella Society in No 33 the arcade dealt with queues of people needing help. “The cold, damp atmosphere had penetrated their insufficient clothing, and some shivered as they stood, four deep in the long queue awaiting their turn to be admitted to that room, where kindly disposed men would listen to their tales of distress and give help.” The article went on to describe families with worn out shoes, toeless socks, filthy feet, some out of work already for two years.

The Huddersfield Examiner described the scene in March 1941: “The Byram Arcade, where dim balconies and even dimmer staircases echo to the sound of busy feet, is a very hive of industry just now, for in addition to the usual occupants of the place, it has been the abode for several months now of the Refugee Clothing and Furnishing Committee. This committee of voluntary helpers attends the centre in Byram Arcade, three afternoons a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and provides the 500 or more Channel Islanders and other refugees in the town with clothing and household furnishings where help is necessary.”

Sources for all the above stories www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and specifically: 1) Huddersfield Chronicle, 17 June 1884; 2) Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 8 December 1930, Reach Plc; 3) Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 22 March 1941, Reach plc.

What memories do you have of visits in years gone by?

Have you got any good stories to add on the past of this arcade?

What’s your favourite shop in the arcade today?

Have you seen this arcade in any film or mentioned in any books or novels?

My favourite shops in the arcade

So many to choose from: I loved the range and quality of loose-leaf teas on offer in the tea shop which has just switched from the top floor to a unit by the arcade entrance. The owner loves his arcade history, too. Similarly, the photograph shop with those beautiful steps loves his links to the arcade’s past. But I confess I spent most of my time with two visits to the wonderful cafe in the arcade, with great views of the whole building.

Is there a website for this arcade?

Yes, Byram Arcade has a really nice website, with pages covering the history of the arcade and summaries of all the arty, creative ‘makers’ operating out of the arcade today. Link to the arcade website here. Also active on Facebook.

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