Who are we?

Some call us iconic. But we call ourselves a home. A home for a collective of creative, independently minded shops. And a home to the people of Leeds, who’ve been exchanging goods beneath our dome for decades.

We’re the city’s cultural megaphone, and its meeting space. A host for events throughout the year, and a gallery for art that reconnects visitors with our city, its beauty, its past and present.

Where have we come from?

Stepping through our doors is a step back in time. A portal into the vision of legendary Victorian architect Cuthbert Brodrick, who built the Corn Exchange between 1861 and 1863, a decade after completing the civic marvel of Leeds Town Hall.

The £360,000 it cost to build was money well spent, providing the people of Leeds with a stunning venue to trade corn kernels - one of only three in the country. Kirkgate, in which it stands, has always been a pioneering district, and a centre for the textile trade. The First White Cloth Hall, recently redeveloped, joins the Corn Exchange in bringing Victorian commerce into a new millennia, and Kirkgate Market still draws tourists as the largest covered market in Europe.

Although the Corn Exchange’s original purpose died out by 1985, thanks to the decline of the farming industry, it took only five years before the building reopened as a centre for retail, with full refurbishment opening up the ground floor and creating new space for new industry.

Local landlords and longstanding regional developers, Rushbond, took the helm in 2017, marking a new chapter for the Corn Exchange - a Grade I listed heritage asset that deserves careful preservation and stewardship. As well as attracting the brightest retailers around, Rushbond has improved accessibility, including an intricately designed stone ramp at the entrance, alongside upgrading amenities and re-aminating the space with rotating artwork installations on the main staircase.

Substantial work to the exterior - space in the public realm - has also connected the Corn Exchange with the city centre in a way never before seen. Corn Exchange Square is rapidly becoming a hub for residents and visitors alike.

Who is Rushbond?

Established in 1986 and still run by its founder, Rushbond has been at the heart of development in Leeds and its surrounding areas for years. The business was founded with a mission to deliver positive impacts for communities and people. Design, quality and creativity lead the way in Rushbond’s long term, collaborative approach to enhancing places and restoring heritage.

Art features heavily in Rushbond’s creative vision and the context of their projects, such as placing Ian Randall’s sculpture ‘Steeped Vessels’ at the centre of Brewery Wharf, just a stone’s throw from the Corn Exchange.

Artworks at the Corn Exchange are refreshed on a biannual basis, and Rushbond are eager to hear from artists interested in submitting a unique work.

Rushbond’s approach as a landlord is always about custodianship - maintaining and improving a much-beloved space, like Leeds Corn Exchange, so future generations can enjoy the same space as past Leeds residents have. Restoring windows, roofing, balconies and chimneys, all using highly skilled, traditional artisan work to do Leeds’ landmark buildings justice. Bringing historic locations back to life, and back to their communities too.