At the height of the Industrial Revolution Granary Wharf was at the heart of the Leeds trading industry witnessing the sale and supply of everything from food to fuel and flax, and in true Holbeck form the site event has its own legend of an Eskimo sighting in 1823.
Allegedly a native Eskimo tried to prove his heritage by demonstrating Eskimo rolls in the Granary Wharf canal basin.
Granary Wharf: Past
Since the area was first used as a cargo wharf in the late 1700s, it quickly established itself as a trade route where the River Aire meets the Leeds Liverpool Canal and joins the Hol Beck taking deliveries to the foundries, mills and workshops that now dominate the city’s skyline.
In 1760 John Gott was appointed engineer by Peter Birt, the lessee of the River Aire navigation. Over the next few years he spent about £4,000 on capital improvements and £9,000 on maintenance. In 1816 Thomas Wood succeeded Elias Wright, a lead consultant on the canals and waterways, as engineer and put forward more ambitious plans for improving the navigation to Leeds and building a new basin there to serve the flourishing trade industry.
However in 1820 Thomas Wood was dismissed for malpractice and replaced with John Rennie who proposes that the navigation should move away from Leeds and focus on Goole where the canal was to join the Ouse. In the 1820s as Leeds’ importnace as a trading post grew the focus returned to the waterways and work began again in earnest.
By the mid 1800s the Leeds Liverpool Canal was completed and industry was at its peak, but this brought pollution and contamination eradicating the wildlife and biodiversity along the waterfront. As the trade industry found new routes to market with steam ships and railway freight the waterways became quieter but pollution remained a persisitent problem.
Granary Wharf: Present
Sustainable developer, Isis Watersdie Regeneration have recently completed the transformation of this historic site, which for years had been under-utilised as a large car park for the city’s burgeouning business population.
The new developments include the 21-storey Candle House residential building offering 160 apartments based around a striking cylndrical design and offering one of the best 360-degree views of Leeds from its sought after roof garden. Neighbouring Candle House, the 333-bed City Inn Hotel, incorporating a sky lounge, overlooks the waterfront and offers a view of the urban village as development unfolds.
Waterman’s Place is the third building on the site offering 122 spacious apartments, some with private roof gardens, incorporated within its ‘stepped’ design and eye-catching copper and cedar exterior. The new residents at Granary Wharf are set to be well-served as the Dark Arches and ground floor levels of the residential buildings opening out onto the landscaped courtyards are filling up fast.
Ossett Brewery’s first Leeds venture, The Hop, provides a live music venue, alongside old favourite Teppanyaki Japanese restaurant, a long-standing Granary Wharf favourite that has watched the changes at this historic site take place over the last ten years.
The new developments at Granary Wharf also aim to bring life back to the waterfront with a series of mooring points along the canal basin encouraging passing tourism from barges.
Granary Wharf: Future
As independent retailers flock back to the waterfront, the public space is set to become an animated backdrop for events and art exhibitions. From the Granary Wharf Pannier Markets which were recently introduced bringing art and retail together, to city centre events and festivals including Leeds Loves Food, Granary Wharf is set to continue as a place to meet, eat and watch the world go by.
