Lost Leeds: demolished heritage and vanished dreams

A ghost tour of sorts to some sites where the sights are not what they once were and to places where radical changes were not implemented Leeds has lost many historic buildings. Some were in poor repair or no longer had a viable use; others were simply out of fashion or in the way of change. Which ones would you have liked to save? What would the city have been like if we hadn’t demolished some of the historic structures? And what would it have been like if some bold dreams of the past had been implemented, instead of being shelved as regimes changed or finance failed to materialise? We’ll explore the lost futures of the city centre. In the process, you'll learn about buildings that we do see in 2026. Meet in City Square, by the Joseph Priestley statue in front of Banyan restaurant. Precise location of the statue: https://what3words.com/spice.send.farmer 'Park Row' painted in 1882 by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836–1893) faithfully records the late Victorian street - under an implausible full moon situated in the north. Only a handful of the buildngs in existence in 1882 are still standing. There were further changes to come before WWI - new banks and insurance premises. At the turn of the century, St Anne's cathedral was relocated. The Philosophical Hall on the west side of the street was demolished in the 1960s and replaced by the Midland Bank. (HSBC from 1992). Another 1960s loss was the 1860s George Gilbert Scott building for Beckett's Bank - in the foreground of the painting on the east side of the street. The current street has changed substantially since the 1960s. Some buildings are the fourth one to stand on their site. The photo below was taken in early October 2026. The tour will explain the causes of these changes and offer comments on the processes involved in urban evolution.