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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…
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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…
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One of the speakers at the formal opening of Stirling Arcade in 1882 claimed “Friends who had been in Paris and London…said there was not an arcade in Paris of the magnificence of roof and general beauty of the Stirling Arcade.” The roof and fittings of the shop fronts have had a few facelifts in…
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Barton Arcade was once known by some as Manchester’s “Little Crystal Palace,” because of its domed roof of glass. The glass ceiling still features today, with the gaze drawn up towards it by the three levels of iron balconies that run around the 3-4 storeys of this 1871 arcade. The upper floors are no longer…
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The highlight of the 1929 Exchange Arcade in Nottingham is above your head, in the four frescoes which depict different stages of Nottingham’s history: there’s the arrival of the Vikings into the city in 868AD, William the Conqueror visiting Nottingham in 1068, Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, and Charles I raising his standard here from…
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The Arcade in Bedford opened in 1905, and one of its tenants today has been serving sweets to the locals for just about as long as the arcade has existed. Arcadia is one of those vintage sweet shops that go down well in this sort of arcade. The Arcade is an unpretentious walkway that joins…
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Running from Piccadilly to Jermyn Street, Piccadilly Arcade is home to a beautiful set of individual shops, mostly very high-end, and the majority catering for stylish menswear. It is rather appropriate, therefore, that at the Jermyn St end of the arcade, there is a sculpture of the original leader of (upper-class) men’s fashion, Beau Brummel….
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Reading’s Harris Arcade could be an Art Deco gem. Built in the late 1920s, the individual shop units still have lots of original features, with their glass fronts and wooden shop frames. But with over half the units lying empty in 2023, and very little footfall along its long walkway from Friar Street to Station…
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The arcades in Inverness have always been under the same roof as the city’s covered market. In the arcade sections, the ceiling and iron framework have retained their original look (though the original building was completely destroyed by fire in 1889 so although the first arcade dates from 1860, these buildings were opened in 1890…
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The highlights of Makinson Arcade in Wigan are the two entrances, with the name in beautiful Art Nouveau script, and the stained glass windows. But also, don’t miss down at the bottom end of the arcade, towards Market Street, there is the original tiled entrance of Makinson’s Teas and Coffees, the shop from which the…
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Before it opened in 1881, the Belfast Newsletter said Queen’s Arcade would become ‘one of the leading thoroughfares of the town’. And it still is today, running from Donegall Place to Fountain Street in the centre of Belfast’s shopping district, meaning a steady flow of shoppers and pedestrians walking through. There were originally 27 shops,…
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When the Strand Arcade opened in November 1882, the Derbyshire Advertiser thought it could help the city emulate the likes of London or the ‘cities of the Continent.’ The arcade runs in a pleasantly-shaped curve from the equally-attractive terrace of buildings called The Strand to the Sadlergate, which itself has a range of interesting independent…
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Westminster Arcade in Harrogate dates from 1898, though it was initially called the Royal Arcade. It might have been conceived in a similar time to many other arcades in the UK, but it was unusual in being built up over several floors, with fairly large shop units, rather than the more common passageway with connecting…
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Hull once had at least six arcades, but of the two which survive, Paragon Arcade in the centre of the city pre-dates the old town’s Hepworth Arcade by two years, opening its doors in 1892. It runs in a straight line for about 80m, connecting Paragon Street and Carr Lane. Its name is carved into…
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When Southport’s Wayfarers Arcade was fully occupied with active businesses, the band was playing three times a day under the glass cupola roof, and the arcade was the place to be out in your finest outfit, promenading, it must have been a spectacularly beautiful place to see. Even today, with barely a dozen of the…
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This arcade in Accrington was originally part of the local Post Office. Built in 1896, it was for some years called the Post Office Arcade. Furniture now fills what was once the Post Office at the Church Street end. The arcade has beautiful original shop fronts, with lead light windows, green and bronze tiling on…
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The Arcade in Newark opened in 1897, with ten shops available for rent. At the time, it would have been a main walk through to the Market Place, and even today is still part of the overall pedestrianised centre of Newark. There are still beautiful curved glass shop windows and an attractive glass ceiling to…
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Hepworth Arcade is next door to the covered market in the Old Town of Hull. There’s colourful, decorative ironwork above both main entrances to the arcade, with a high glass ceiling, pleasingly curved, taking the gaze upwards, and attractively painted mouldings above the shops running along the arcade’s two lengths. The name of the arcade…
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Preston’s Miller Arcade is almost cathedral-like in its magnificent high ceilings and walkways that cross like a transept and nave. The tiled entrance to the former Crown Hotel is still visible, as is the ornate lettering over the old way in to the Turkish Baths, also now long gone. Mr Miller, the local dentist who…
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The Royal Arcade in Norwich is beautifully designed, with lots of original features still visible today. From the frontage, with its ornate script welcoming the visitor over the entrance, up to the smiling face up in the gables high above; there are peacock designs in the decorations above each shop and art nouveau paintings high…