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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,…
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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…
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Timaru’s Royal Arcade has a wonderful mix of quirky, rather unique shops and businesses in 2023, including the intriguing ‘genealogy services’ office of David Jack, the spiritual wellness centre and a doorway leading up to the Arcade Ballroom. There is also a hair salon, vintage clothes shop, barbers, and a workwear clothes shop. The glass…
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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…
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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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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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Passage Verdeau is the third in a line of arcades that extends northwards, starting at the Passage des Panoramas, continuing through the Passage Jouffroy, and finishing at the northern end of Passage Verdeau, which opens out onto rue du Faubourg Montmartre. Its glass ceiling, with its fishbone window frames, is perhaps this arcade’s most striking…
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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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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…