ARCADES PROJECT

The Royal Arcade in Cardiff dates from either 1859 or 1870, depending on sources. It’s a long, relatively-narrow arcade running over 100m from St Mary Street to The Hayes, but very light due to the glass ceiling running virtually the full length and across the whole width of the arcade. It has a mix of…

Morgan Arcade in Cardiff was built in the late 1890s in a rather unique form with one long passageway from St Mary Street then two arms, with one curving pleasantly round to the left, ending at The Hayes, and the right arm ending in an alleyway, though not to be missed, as it has a…

The Grand Arcade in Leeds is about five minutes walk from the other arcades in Leeds, but it pre-dates most of them and still has the original clock from 1898, though the imperial characters who used to mark every hour by marching across the front no longer move, even though the clock does still tell…

It’s hard to imagine today that Boscombe’s beautiful Victorian arcade used to host daily concerts, with an organ, an orchestra and singers on the balcony. It reminded me of Southport’s wonderful Wayfarers’ Arcade in the sense that it has seen better days, though I think even the Southport arcade has more connection back to its…

This 1880s arcade in the Westbourne district of Bournemouth was built by the same man as had been behind Bournemouth’s first arcade in the town centre. It’s a lovely arcade, with a slight bend in the walkway – and glass ceiling – along its 100 metres plus length. It’s one of the few fully-tenanted arcades…

The oldest arcade in Bournemouth was built in the 1860s, with the glass roof going up in the early 1870s. It’s a simple walkway in the centre of the town about 100 metres long. There’s an interesting mix of shops today from the oldest resident, Chas. Fox, the jeweller’s, here for over 100 years, to…

Cross Arcade in Leeds’ Victoria Quarter sits perpendicular to the larger County Arcade, rather like in Brussels the Passage des Princes sits astride the more glamorous Galeries du Roi and de la Reine. It was built at the same time as County Arcade, opening slightly later in 1902, but with a very similar entrance and…

County Arcade is the glamorous member of the Leeds Arcade family of five. It’s certainly an impressive building still today, almost 125 years after it first opened. With its neighbour and close sibling Cross Arcade, it now forms part of what has been dubbed the ‘Victoria Quarter’ of Leeds. I actually like what Leeds (and…

Queen’s Arcade in Leeds has a classic glass ceiling with solid, but decorative ironwork holding everything up, and an attractive series of vintage lamps hanging down from the ceiling. There is an upstairs balcony with more wrought-iron railings running the length of both sides, though no longer accessible to the public these days. My favourite…

The oldest arcade in Leeds, Thornton’s Arcade was opened in 1877. The Yorkshire Post newspaper at the time saw it as “Leeds catching up with the great cities of Europe.” And it’s still up there among the great arcades of the UK, with its curved glass ceiling, supported by beautiful blue ironwork and a red…

Reliance Arcade is Brixton’s own bit of Art Deco. There’s no grand entrance here, and it’s easy to walk right on past the front of this arcade on Brixton’s high street in south London, unless you spot the (almost) rainbow-themed decoration forming an arch over the way in, flanked by a very modern vaping shop…

Originally built in the mid-1920s, Quadrant Arcade has recently had a major refurbishment. Its new look is chic, glamorous, fairly modern in its style, but this is still very definitely an arcade and its position at the bottom of Regent Street gives it real kerb appeal. I visited first when most of the shop units…

Built in the 1870s, Imperial Arcade is the oldest arcade in Huddersfield, beating its more glamorous and illustrious neighbour, Byram Arcade by half a dozen years. It has a classic glass ceiling, with ironwork to give structure and decoration above eye level. It’s only a short arcade these days, with signage in Market Street indicating…

Chester’s history goes back to Roman times, with many of the shops in the city centre under cover along raised walkways in Tudor buildings lining the main streets. The city’s only arcade, in An Arcades Project’s sense of the word, is St Michael’s Row, which runs off Bridge Street and through the façade of a…

Argyll Arcade in Glasgow is approaching its bicentenary, making it one of the UK’s oldest arcades. These days the arcade is home virtually exclusively to jeweller’s, some of whom have been in business in the arcade for over 150 years. It also has the entrance to one of Glasgow’s culinary institutions, Sloan’s restaurant, with its…

Sanderson Arcade in the Northumberland market town of Morpeth is rather unique, in that it was completely rebuilt in 2009, but in a more vintage style (Edwardian, claim the architects) than the old 1950s arcade it replaced, the latter having become dilapidated and run-down. Judging by the footfall on the Saturday afternoon we visited, the…

The Arcade in Ilkley opened in 1895, with lots of small businesses typical of a Yorkshire market town like this.  By the time of Margaret MacKeith’s 1983 book, it was a ‘very quiet arcade struggling to exist, far from modern shopping centre.’ But in the middle of the Covid pandemic, Outside the Box moved in,…

The little, crescent-shaped arcade with two entrances on Keighley’s North Street is part of the larger Arcade Chambers building in this former grand Yorkshire mill town. There is a hair salon fronting onto the street, but the main tenant in the arcade these days is surely RiRi’s Coffee House, with its stylish shop front painted…

Kirkgate Arcade in the busy Yorkshire market town of Otley is a bustling little arcade packed with small independent businesses offering a really wide range of services and products. There’s the workmanlike hardware store near the entrance to the arcade, and a traditional sweet shop opposite that; there’s a barber’s, a beauty salon, a vintage…

The highlights of North Bridge Arcade in Edinburgh are overhead. The round, dome-like stained glass ceiling in the middle of the arcade is magnificent, but the sparkling gold leaf mosaic on one of the ceilings gives the feel of a starlit night for those entering the arcade from the Old Town of Edinburgh. There are…

Central Arcade in Newcastle is a superb two-storey building dating from 1906, with lots of original features on the inside, including the ornate brown tiling, the upstairs balcony, entrances onto three streets in the centre of Newcastle, and one shop that has been there almost since the beginning. Windows Music Shop is a beautiful place,…

The Arcade in Colne is a 1920s passageway that runs from the main road in Colne, Market Street, to Post Office Yard at the back. There’s a definite sense of community in here, even though there is only a handful of shops, and most of them are fairly recent arrivals in the arcade. It’s a…

Shackleton Hall – or the Royal Arcade – in Colne has had a recent makeover and looks magnificent today. The building dates from the 1890s, but had become dilapidated and disused until a complete overhaul and refurbishment, making it now a really attractive shopping arcade in Colne’s main street, with a dozen or so independent…

The Royal Arcade in Wigan has a big sign saying it is Wigan’s oldest arcade, but actually although it might look older than the nearby Makinson Arcade, it really opened 28 years later, in 1927. Its narrow walkway and the bend in the arcade, along with its mock-Tudor frontage give it real vintage feel, and…

The two Victorian arcades in Halifax run into the indoor market building, which was opened by the future George VI, when he was still Duke of York in 1896. The arcades have the classic glass and ironwork ceiling, with impressive stonework entrances, but they are both quite short and are divided by Russell Street, so…

The Royal Opera Arcade in London is the oldest arcade in the UK, having been built between 1816 and 1818, so pre-dating even the Burlington Arcade. It runs from Pall Mall to Charles II Street, with His Majesty’s Theatre on Haymarket backing onto the northern end of the arcade. Sadly, it is almost deserted now,…

It may not be London’s oldest arcade, opening in June 1880, some 60 years after its neighbour the Burlington Arcade, but the Royal Arcade is actually my favourite of London’s shopping arcades, and The Globe newspaper in April 1910, reviewing London’s arcades, called the Royal: “the most imposing and ornamental arcade in London.” Outspoken art…

Princes Arcade began life with an art deco design built between 1929 and 1933, when it formally opened. The arcade today results from a 1980s refurbishment, which aimed for a ‘Jane Austen era’ style, with vintage lamps and rounded-windowed shop fronts. There are classical mouldings in the ceilings and above the shops on the fronts,…

London’s Burlington Arcade opened in 1819 and has been a role model for many other arcades that opened up around the UK in the following years, becoming the place to see and be seen, and specialising in luxury. In many respects it is still the same today, over 200 years on. Beadles in uniform still…

The Royal Arcade in Keighley, West Yorkshire, is still going strong, although in the 1980s it was derelict and might well have gone under the bulldozer. Thank goodness it was bought by developers who wanted to restore its Edwardian/Victorian charm. This arcade has a T-shape, with the name of the arcade standing clearly over the…