SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

If this is to be a hotel i am sure that the whole building will be sectioned off into rooms, so not only will the lift and staircase be ripped out ( if not already) but the ex. Ballroom which was a storeroom for John Peters furniture shop will most certainly be part of the conversion. I would think personally that the lift and beautiful staircase had more charm than the ballroom or cinema.

You never know. When Travelodge took over the lovely old (and long-empty) Regent hotel in Leamington Spa, they had the good sense to leave the lobby, with its nice sweeping staircase etc, pretty much as it was. Not sure how they'd benefit from ripping out the marble staircase, even if the ballroom is doomed.

I've emailed Easyhotel's press office.....

[quote="mark1978"]You never know. When Travelodge took over the lovely old (and long-empty) Regent hotel in Leamington Spa, they had the good sense to leave the lobby, with its nice sweeping staircase etc, pretty much as it was. Not sure how they'd benefit from ripping out the marble staircase, even if the ballroom is doomed.

Hope you are correct Mark concerning the staircase but from memory it only had a exit to the cinema and then to the top floor, the ballroom. developers who are limited with the area they have to work in would have no compunction in removing anything in their way.

Well, it looks like Easyhotel have put their planning app in:

https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/onlin ... XJ0JBGX000

The good news is that the staircase is to be kept. The bad news is that all other features of the ballroom (including the gorgeous old toilets and presumably all the amazing detail on the ceiling) are to be ripped out and replaced with hotel rooms.

I'm inclined to do something I've never done before and stick in an objection. There can't be many other examples of a virtually intact 1920s ballroom around.

The planning documents are well worth a look btw. Very detailed Heritage Statement with great photos and historical background. I hadn't fully twigged before that the original entrance to the cinema was what's now Costa on Albion Place - the doors on Lands Lane were mainly used for egress after the films had finished:

https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/onlin ... 854952.pdf

[quote="mark1978"]Ah - the good news is that someone on Facebook is highly persuasive and has managed to get inside and confirm that the rumours of a dusty forgotten ballroom are indeed true:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 6149215757

The bad news? It's going to be converted into an EasyHotel. What that means for the ballroom isn't clear.


That is a really nice original picture,
I can't remember back in the 50s, when i used to go there just where the silver ball hanging from the ceiling was. but when it was John Peters and that was a furniture storeroom the ball was still there but certainly not as high which makes me think perhaps the ceiling mus have been lowered sometime during the last century.

Pic of the ballroom ceiling copyright of Leeds Lost Adventures

Some more info here
https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/yo ... tel-scheme