Bradford's iconic Wool Exchange sells at auction for £771,000
The Grade I listed building went under the hammer at a property auction last week
BRADFORD’S iconic Wool Exchange has sold at auction for £771,000.
But there is unlikely to be much change at the building, as the current tenants have a lease until November 2121.
The Grade I listed building went under the hammer at a property auction on Thursday with a guide price of £500,000.
The auction said the sale was on behalf of Bradford Council.
Cartmex Limited is the current tenant for the building, taking on a 125-year lease that began in November 1996 and runs until the same month in 2121.
Considered one of the finest buildings in Yorkshire, the Wool Exchange is homes to businesses such as Waterstones, Tiffin Coffee, and popular bar The Exchange.
The auction documents said the building generates £50,000 in rent each year.
Details of the buyer have not been announced.
The 30,947 square foot building was designed by Bradford architects Lockwood and Mawson and was completed in 1867, opening as a wool exchange.
The foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and can be seen in restaurant Pizza Pieces.
The building has not been used for trading wool since the 1960s and now features 12 retail units on the ground floor, including Waterstones, and a further two floors of self-contained office accommodation.
The Waterstones store in particular is often hailed as one of the country’s most beautiful bookshops, with a mezzanine café overlooking the grand hall the shop is based in.
The Grade I listing makes the Wool Exchange one of the most protected buildings in Bradford, and the Historic England listing says: “In type the design looks to the precedent of the great Flemish Cloth Halls but the style is Venetian Gothic, particularly in the polychromy and the serrated openwork of the parapet cresting.
“The Wool Exchange, perhaps more than any other building, symbolises the wealth and importance that Bradford had gained by the mid C19, on the basis of the wool trade.”
The auction listing said: “The property occupies a prominent island site within Bradford city centre, UK City of Culture 2025; situated between the major 80+ retailer Broadway Shopping Centre and the pedestrianised retail quarter around Market Street, Darley Street and Bank Street.
“The location benefits from high city-centre footfall between these established shopping streets.”
The building is at the centre of recent works to Bradford city centre.
While one side of the iconic building once overlooked a busy bus route, the pedestrianisation of Market Street now means the building is surrounded by wide, pedestrianised streets.