Kirkgate Market Tour with Workers Lunchtime

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

Visit now

Kirkgate Market Tour

13 January-9 March 2024
Date
Time
Session Features
13 Jan 2024
10:30 am-11:30 am
13 Jan 2024
12:00 pm-1:00 pm
03 Feb 2024
10:30 am-11:30 am
03 Feb 2024
12:00 pm-1:00 pm
09 Mar 2024
10:30 am-11:30 am

See website for more sessions

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

A photograph of the huge 1904 Hall in Kirkgate Market Leeds. The image shows a wide-angle shot from low-down capturing the colours of the florists and fruit and veg stall in the foreground.
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired
Book now

Kirkgate Market is a Victorian gem of architecture in the metropolis of Yorkshire, Leeds. When it first opened in 1857 it was the largest indoor market in Europe. It started the retail ascent of household names such as Marks and Spencer and became the home of Jamie Oliver’s ministry of food. You can explore this wonderful building full of stories and characters during your lunch break with early afternoon tours led by Workers Lunchtime.

Whether you’re looking to learn a bit more about the local history or just looking to explore alternative lunch options, a lunchtime tour is a great way to shake up your week, meet new people and break away from the everyday workplace monotony.

The tour typically lasts around an hour and explores the different buildings that make up the market. You’ll journey through the grandeur and ornate architecture of the 1904 hall towards the later 20th Century additions as well as the market’s most recent addition, the new food hall and events space. This hub of community regularly hosts live music as well as being one of the best smelling rooms in the city.

As Leeds’ rapidly expanding city centre has developed, Kirkgate Market has anchored itself as a vital hub of cultural and retail opportunity. The event space regularly hosts live music and the stalls vary from businesses that are centuries old through to startups that are still in their first year of business.

Tours do include bumpy surfaces, steps and heights, and so Workers Lunchtime encourage you to let your guide know if any of those cause a problem, as tours can be adjusted to suit attendees.

As well as the organised tours for the public Workers Lunchtime run private tours for families, community groups and workplaces. Get in touch via their website for further details.

Where to go near Kirkgate Market Tour with Workers Lunchtime

Asian Bazaar Leeds
Leeds
Asian Bazaar

In the heart of Leeds is also an Asian market held every Wednesday, featuring a vast array of fabrics and spices from the Indian subcontinent and beyond.

Wapentake Leeds
Leeds
Restaurant
Wapentake

Wapentake provides freshly-baked bread and plenty of sweets cooked onsite. Its decor is rustic and and busy, crammed with bottles and other oddities, giving a pleasing artistic feel.

Wapentake Leeds
Leeds
Restaurant
Wapentake

Wapentake is a café bar in Leeds, with freshly-baked bread and plenty of sweets cooked onsite. Its decor is rustic and and busy, crammed with bottles and other oddities, giving a pleasing artistic feel.

Leeds
Event venue
Outlaws Yacht Club

A European style café/bar, exhibition space, record shop, hair salon and creative hangout tucked away on New York Street in Leeds…

Gallery
Leeds
Gallery
BLANK_

BLANK_is a Leeds-based gallery, run by the School of Creative Arts at University Centre Leeds. It encompasses a physical exhibition space and a publication that showcases new contemporary visual art…

Food at Crowd of Favours Leeds
Leeds
Restaurant
Crowd of Favours

Crowd of Favours is a relaxed, welcoming restaurant and pub serving a great range of beers, spirits and locally sourced food.

Leeds
Theatre
Leeds Playhouse

Leeds Playhouse is a hub for world class theatre and hosts a wide range of productions throughout the year.

Leeds
Restaurant
Eat Your Greens

Eat Your Greens is a vibrant, organic restaurant bringing a hint of European flair to the city’s plant-based dining scene.

The Man Behind The Curtain
Leeds
Restaurant
The Man Behind The Curtain

Man Behind The Curtain is a stylish, exclusive fine dining restaurant in the Victoria Leeds shopping centre, with a flair for the weird and wonderful.

Leeds
Music venue
The Wardrobe

Located in the city’s Art Quarter, The Wardrobe has been contributing to Leeds’ rich live music offering since its opening in 1999.

Leeds
Shop
Tribe Records Leeds

Tribe Records returns after a 4 year gap with a new store stocking house, techno, electro, reggae, dancehall, disco, world, dnb, bass & beats.

Victoria Arcade
Leeds
Shopping Centre
Victoria Arcade

Leeds’ go to place for premium shopping, Victoria Arcade, has both style and substance in abundance.

What's on: Activity

ActivityCity Centre
The Liver Bird Safari Walking Tour

Liverpool has over 100 Liver birds hidden within its architecture. Join ArtsGroupie for a Liver Bird Safari where you’ll learn about these mythical creatures and their heritage ties to the

From £10
A large mechanical puppet controlled by multiple people. Encounter Festival in Preston
FestivalsLancashire
Encounter Festival in Preston

Expect a jam-packed day of outdoor performance, live music, family fun – plus Preston’s iconic Torchlight Procession and fireworks finale.

Free entry
9D Breathwork - Transcend
ActivitySalford
9D Breathwork at Transcend Studios

Interrupt old patterns and clear mental clutter with this workshop in Salford Quays, encompassing guided breathing, sound healing and visualisation.

From £30.00

Culture Guides

Exhibitions in the North

Galleries around the North are gearing up for a new season of exhibitions - from iconic art prizes to smaller, artist-led gems.

Cinema in the North

This month we recommend a season of Film noir, cult Australian movies and a huge celebration of DIY community cinema.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

This season’s theatre is gloriously eclectic: from radical cabaret and reinvented classics to new musicals and boundary-pushing performance.

Wisp Press Image
Music in the North

From corrupted shoegaze to experimental electronica, post-hardcore to Indian classical, these are the shows that should be on your radar.