SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Isn't Kirkgate indoor market superbly off kilter and weird? I decided to take a stroll around the building last week. Nothing however prepared me for the surreal trip i was about to take. First stop Leeds City Books. At first glance an innocuous enough stall but on closer inspection it reveals itself as a shrine to Christian evangelicalism. This weeks feel good book "Jesus chose the nails". As the born again stall holder fixed me with his God bothering gaze "Franco chose to run".Further on i had to shield my eyes from the sheer blingtastic overload that is Modern Living Furniture. Elaborate chrome tables, Leopard skin recliner sofas and Venetian mirrored obelisk statues. Furniture so exotic, provocative and suggestive that if one of its aluminium urns could speak its first words would be a leering "you like jig a jig?"From the ridiculous to the sublime, Betty's stall. Perfect in its pointlessness. Stock so old fashioned that a passing tribe of Neanderthals would dismiss it as being too retro. Ancient wooden picture frames. Row after row of limp shamy leathers and a single felt cowboy hat. Pure mathematical retail minimalism. and its all ours folks.However towering malevolently above everything else, like a blood splattered plastic portal to hell stands The Tripe Stall. Remove this diabolical temple to suffering, plonk it in the Sattchi Gallery and retitle it " Offal holocaust establishment of ethical etiquette" and the Turner prize is yours...for ever. Beat that Damien Hurst. Pah! .        

franco wrote: Isn't Kirkgate indoor market superbly off kilter and weird? I decided to take a stroll around the building last week. Nothing however prepared me for the surreal trip i was about to take. First stop Leeds City Books. At first glance an innocuous enough stall but on closer inspection it reveals itself as a shrine to Christian evangelicalism. This weeks feel good book "Jesus chose the nails". As the born again stall holder fixed me with his God bothering gaze "Franco chose to run".Further on i had to shield my eyes from the sheer blingtastic overload that is Modern Living Furniture. Elaborate chrome tables, Leopard skin recliner sofas and Venetian mirrored obelisk statues. Furniture so exotic, provocative and suggestive that if one of its aluminium urns could speak its first words would be a leering "you like jig a jig?"From the ridiculous to the sublime, Betty's stall. Perfect in its pointlessness. Stock so old fashioned that a passing tribe of Neanderthals would dismiss it as being too retro. Ancient wooden picture frames. Row after row of limp shamy leathers and a single felt cowboy hat. Pure mathematical retail minimalism. and its all ours folks.However towering malevolently above everything else, like a blood splattered plastic portal to hell stands The Tripe Stall. Remove this diabolical temple to suffering, plonk it in the Sattchi Gallery and retitle it " Offal holocaust establishment of ethical etiquette" and the Turner prize is yours...for ever. Beat that Damien Hurst. Pah! .         Franco. . For your information these are the type of stalls run by salt of the earth sellers,years and years of earning an honest living no matter what they sell,they must be doing something right to still be there.I dont believe for one minute the chap selling Christian books gave you a "God bothering stare". . how did you go on at the other African/Islamic/Jewish/chinese /Itallian stalls? We are a Christian country so theres bound to be some people who need to buy their stuff and due to people like you they will find it harder to come by but then they remember that theres a chap in Leeds Market been selling my kind of stuff for years.Did you know The Tripe Shop is possibly the only one in the world now? Why do you want it removing?Whay is it malevont?Its a part of history and obviously to still be there in these struggling times is encouraging.Bettys stall is another one,someone might want a felt hat,thats what markets are like full of wonderful stuff,bargains galore.Something for everyone.I hope that you are never on a panel that decides the fate of the market.You say Franco chose to run. . did you know theres a Leeds Kirkgate Market cycling club. . its been going over 100 years.

The market is a great place, Franco. At the moment it needs the support of the people of the region. It is full of ordinary stalls and wonderful quirky ones. There is something for everyone. As Martin Wainwright said in his wee video clip the other week, if you want something, you can be sure to get it at Kirkgate Market.Why don't you go back and have another wander and you'll see what I mean. As you get to know the place, you'll discover the hidden treasures and the great folk who work there.

Opinions are opinions, lets not forget that. I can see where franco is coming from, but overwhelmingly it is a great place that is always busy and caters for so many people with so many different tastes, so ultimately I don't agree. Tripe shop closes early often on a Saturday as they sell out (probably to the likes of the Harvey Nicks restaurant and Flannels given the neuvo cuisine penchant for offal these days)Older people like the stuff Betty sells, that's why she's there. Christians like the books, that's why they are there.What about the great fish, fruit and veg, clothing (for some of us cannot afford the likes of Fcuk and House of Fraser), fancy goods, sweets, foreign foods, flowers, meat... I could go on. t does beg the question though as to why so much of it is now empty.... But that's another story!

If for no other reason, it has a stall selling Sloman's Soap!

I allus thought the Market was unique to Leeds, especially the outdoor market. All the different clothes stalls, VHS, DVD and CD stalls, stalls selling all sorts of tat, book stalls, computer bits and bats stalls etc etc etc. But we recently went to an outdoor market, not far from us here in the sunny Midlands, and lo and behold there was exactly the same sort of stuff on sale here. The same clothes, the same VHS, DVD and CD's, the same tat, the same books and computer bits and bats etc etc etc... ... They even have the same price signs. Are there warehouses up and down the country filled with all this stuff that is shipped round the UK to unsuspecting buyers?

went in the market yesterday, bought some meat from a miserable butcher and bought some fruit from an equally rude and miserable fruit and veg stall. No please,thankyou or anything.I'm not tarring them all with the same brush, the staff at Fultons are always pleasant enough.but the miserable bunch now consists of 2 fruit & veg stalls,both flower stalls and a couple of the butchers.A smile and a few manners would'nt go amiss

keyholekate wrote: franco wrote: Isn't Kirkgate indoor market superbly off kilter and weird? I decided to take a stroll around the building last week. Nothing however prepared me for the surreal trip i was about to take. First stop Leeds City Books. At first glance an innocuous enough stall but on closer inspection it reveals itself as a shrine to Christian evangelicalism. This weeks feel good book "Jesus chose the nails". As the born again stall holder fixed me with his God bothering gaze "Franco chose to run".Further on i had to shield my eyes from the sheer blingtastic overload that is Modern Living Furniture. Elaborate chrome tables, Leopard skin recliner sofas and Venetian mirrored obelisk statues. Furniture so exotic, provocative and suggestive that if one of its aluminium urns could speak its first words would be a leering "you like jig a jig?"From the ridiculous to the sublime, Betty's stall. Perfect in its pointlessness. Stock so old fashioned that a passing tribe of Neanderthals would dismiss it as being too retro. Ancient wooden picture frames. Row after row of limp shamy leathers and a single felt cowboy hat. Pure mathematical retail minimalism. and its all ours folks.However towering malevolently above everything else, like a blood splattered plastic portal to hell stands The Tripe Stall. Remove this diabolical temple to suffering, plonk it in the Sattchi Gallery and retitle it " Offal holocaust establishment of ethical etiquette" and the Turner prize is yours...for ever. Beat that Damien Hurst. Pah! .         Franco. . For your information these are the type of stalls run by salt of the earth sellers,years and years of earning an honest living no matter what they sell,they must be doing something right to still be there.I dont believe for one minute the chap selling Christian books gave you a "God bothering stare". . how did you go on at the other African/Islamic/Jewish/chinese /Itallian stalls? We are a Christian country so theres bound to be some people who need to buy their stuff and due to people like you they will find it harder to come by but then they remember that theres a chap in Leeds Market been selling my kind of stuff for years.Did you know The Tripe Shop is possibly the only one in the world now? Why do you want it removing?Whay is it malevont?Its a part of history and obviously to still be there in these struggling times is encouraging.Bettys stall is another one,someone might want a felt hat,thats what markets are like full of wonderful stuff,bargains galore.Something for everyone.I hope that you are never on a panel that decides the fate of the market.You say Franco chose to run. . did you know theres a Leeds Kirkgate Market cycling club. . its been going over 100 years. I was in Newark and Lincoln yesterday,and the outside market at Newark was just how the old outside market was in Leeds in my young years (think opening credits of Queenies Castle).Lots of stalls selling new goods,such as clothing,a whole stall of all the tools you would ever need (and some you never knew you might) fresh food stalls (not burger vans) with local produce.These were proper,old fashioned good market stall tradersIt was all quality,the last one i saw as good as that was in Arras.Lets face up to it,the outside market at Leeds no longer provides cheap quality goods for a wide range of people,it is,unfortunateley,a combination of quirky stalls selling ,on the whole,second hand goods.The indoor market is quite different,but when you have a comparison to other towns outdoor markets you can see the writing is certainly on the wall for the outdoor market.

It is a real mixed bag in there but as the OP I think was saying, this does make it interesting. Just to give a mention to the outdoor farmers markets. Every first and third Sunday of the month. These are really taking off and have a nice buzz to them, particularly the first Sunday where there are far more stalls. There is some excellent fresh local produce and well worth a visit.

Chrism wrote: I allus thought the Market was unique to Leeds, especially the outdoor market. All the different clothes stalls, VHS, DVD and CD stalls, stalls selling all sorts of tat, book stalls, computer bits and bats stalls etc etc etc. But we recently went to an outdoor market, not far from us here in the sunny Midlands, and lo and behold there was exactly the same sort of stuff on sale here. The same clothes, the same VHS, DVD and CD's, the same tat, the same books and computer bits and bats etc etc etc... ... They even have the same price signs. Are there warehouses up and down the country filled with all this stuff that is shipped round the UK to unsuspecting buyers? The truth is, yes. A friend is a trader in that sort of thing and there's a huge business in it, mostly for pound shops and market stalls but also increasingly for online shops. He'll buy cases or pallets of a huge array of things and sell it on in smaller lots. The municipal market is a feature of many of our towns and cities though, and that they're much the same is because the surplus stock all comes from the same place. Uniqueness often comes from local products and traditions: Kirkgate has the tripe stall, Bury has its black puddings, Doncaster has excellent fruit and veg and fish: the Grainger in Newcastle has a far bigger meat market than Butcher's Row, to name the ones I know a bit about