The then New White Cloth Hall on King Street on today's date (July 14) in 1868

[Leodian]

The following is reported in Mayhall’s ‘Annals of Yorkshire’ vol 3.July 14 1868. “The Leeds Old White Cloth Hall, in the Calls, where business had been transacted for nearly a century, was closed. During the day a number of the dealers were engaged removing their stock to the New White Cloth Hall in King Street, which had been built by the North Eastern Railway Company, and which was opened for business on Saturday the 18th. The principal front of the New Cloth Hall looks to King Street, and above the gateway rises a handsome tower of stone, with a clock. The total area taken up is 3,500 square yards, and this includes a court yard of 2,200 yards, as against 3,955 square yards of court yard at the old Hall. In the front towards King Street the building has a length of 300 feet, and at the back the extent is 200 feet.”In information I’ve found in the online Wikipedia encyclopaedia it states “The building did not last long, due to the decline in cloth manufacturing in Yorkshire. It was never fully used, and was demolished in 1895. Today the site is occupied by the Hotel Metropole. Like the 2nd White Cloth Hall only the cupola survives, incorporated onto the hotel roof”.