SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

There are balconies running along the insides of both Queens and County Arcade's at first floor level. I've never been on those balconies and wonder if anyone has and knows anything about them? They presumably allow entry to and exit from the shops, but if only that then it hardly seems worthwhile having them (unless a fire escape) so I wonder if they had an original use that no longer applies? As there never seems to be any public access to them I also assume they are private.

The County Arcade balconies used to have shop fronts. I remember a really good camera shop on the first floor there. Long time ago though.

Yes I bought a lens their in the 80s.There's plenty of 'upper' premises in the arcades and market that isn't used, wonder if it's fire regs?

There used to be, in the 1960s, a superb little transport model and photograph shop run by a kindly old chap (well he seemed elderly then) who had previously had a shop "Turntable Enterprises" somewhere in the Wade Lane vicinity before that area was redeveloped.    The shop was on one of those balconies, as were plenty of others at the time, and we never gave any thought to fire escape issues but perhaps that is the case. Without any prior warning the shop closed and the man was never heard of again - I suppose a morbid possibility is that he may have passed away unexpectedly.

There are plenty of snaps on LEODIS of the two arcades with some of them taken from the balcony.Use the search arguments "Queens Arcade" and "Queen's Arcade".One is here....http://www.leodis.org/display.aspx?reso ... Y=FULLThis one has images of people above and on the ground as well as narrative about sixties Leeds tonsorial maestro Derek Barnett, who moved premises from Great George Street to the Queens Arcade. He also features in the SL 'barbers of yesteryear' thread.

Loiner1960 wrote: The County Arcade balconies used to have shop fronts. I remember a really good camera shop on the first floor there. Long time ago though. J. Clifford Evans?http://www.leodis.org/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL

Turntable Enterprises was also a small publisher of transport books. "A hundred years of Leeds Tramways"(D. Young) and "The East and West Yorkshire Union Railways" (D. L. Franks) were among their publications of local interest.The earlier shop was on Wade Street - now the site of the St John's Centre - and dealt in new and second hand books as well as the models and photos. It was run by Ken Mellor, an old acquaintance of mine. I believe he moved south at some time in the late seventies, possibly to Nottinghamshire or thereabouts, and I lost touch with him.I think it possible that the older gentleman that you recall would be Ken's father, who I think used to look after the shop when Ken had business elsewhere.Another shop to be found on the balconies of the arcades was an earlier incarnation of Hunter Smith's "Jumbo Records", still trading after moving first to the Merrion Centre and now established in the St John's Centre.

jim wrote: The earlier shop was on Wade Street - now the site of the St John's Centre - and dealt in new and second hand books as well as the models and photos. It was run by Ken Mellor, an old acquaintance of mine. I believe he moved south at some time in the late seventies, possibly to Nottinghamshire or thereabouts, and I lost touch with him.I think it possible that the older gentleman that you recall would be Ken's father, who I think used to look after the shop when Ken had business elsewhere. Thank you Jim for that interesting information and, as I'm referring to the mid 1960's, I'm sure you are right.    The elderly chap was of medium height and build with a full head of greyish hair, and wore if I remember rightly gold framed glasses. He was very pleasant and helpful, but also extremely quietly spoken.    Happy days, the passing of which I regret very much.

Cheers all for your replies. Having never been on the balconies (as far as I can recall) I must have never needed to use any of the units on them. I wonder when they finally stopped being used as shops or service concerns?

Attached is a photo of my great grandmother entertaining in the house above their shop in Queen's Arcade. Around the turn of the 20th century.