Piece Hall: Is this hidden architectural gem UK's best gig venue?

James frontman Tim Booth said playing the Piece Hall in Halifax was like performing in an Italian piazza

The Piece Hall, the world's only remaining Georgian cloth hall, is becoming a sought-after venue for global artists to perform at. Why is this little-known, architectural triumph in West Yorkshire captivating so many almost 250 years after it was built?

Jessie Ware likened it to playing a gig in Venice.

James's frontman Tim Booth agreed - it was as if he was on an open-air stage at an Italian piazza, the crowd roaring back at him on a truly memorable summer's evening.

Noel Gallagher simply said it was "iconic", while one awestruck promoter remarked it was like Somerset House on steroids.

They're talking about the Piece Hall in Halifax, where on Saturday Limp Bizkit played one of only two concerts in the UK this year, having flown in from Iowa to the West Yorkshire town.

Built in 1779 for the trading of cloth, this extraordinary building in the town centre has been its best kept secret for more than two centuries.

It has had a rich and varied past, but had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it narrowly escaped being condemned more than once.

Thankfully, it was rescued with a £19m refurbishment and since reopening in 2017, has become one of Yorkshire's greatest tourist attractions - filled with independent shops, bars and restaurants - and a unique live music venue.

The Piece Hall's summer of music concluded with Limp Bizkit playing one of only two UK shows there

It has even been the set of an explosive scene in Marvel's latest Disney series, Secret Invasion, with Samuel L Jackson filmed dodging bombs.

The secret is very much out.

Musicians and bands are clamouring to play there, according to promoter Peter Taylor, whose firm Cuffe and Taylor are responsible for the stream of stars that visited this summer including Sting, George Ezra and Madness.

"They want to play the Piece Hall over Manchester and Leeds - it's a date in the North," he says.

For the Piece Hall team, the success of the summer shows that saw over 125,000 buy tickets is the crowning glory of a monumental few years.

"I had a real pinch myself moment when I saw Sting take to the stage, saying, 'how you doing, Halifax?'," says Piece Hall's "chief caretaker" Nicky Chance-Thompson.

The Piece Hall crowd went wild for Sting last month

Let me be transparent. I am from Halifax and spent many a Thursday in the 90s at the Piece Hall's second hand market looking for fur coats and Wrangler jackets or gazing in wonder at the rows of tassel skirts and joss sticks at much-missed independent shop of teenage dreams, CBGBs.

I've returned many times since its transformation and felt that same buzz so many are getting from this truly awesome setting.

"We've set the bar very high with artists who play here," says Nicky, who has watched Duran Duran, Queens of the Stone Age and Sir Tom Jones filter through its huge ornate doors.

It's an astonishing turnaround in fortunes when just a few decades ago, the Piece Hall was in such a state it was described by critics as a slum.

Beating heart of industry

The building is the sole survivor of the 18th Century cloth halls which were crucial to the economy of West Yorkshire.

Civil engineer Thomas Bradley has long been credited as its designer, but Halifax historian Stephen Gee's diligent research discovered it was in fact John Aked who had the vision of hundreds of little rooms for weavers and merchants to work from, based around a quadrangle.

His design was picked from six others by town leaders, and builders got to work. It opened to the sound of marching bands and much fanfare on Friday, 1 January, 1779.

The Piece Hall became a market after operating as a hall to sell pieces of cloth

For more than 80 years it was the beating heart of the cloth industry, but when that was deemed unviable, it was transformed into a wholesale market from 1871, a venture that continued for a century.

In the early 1970s the building was in a state, but market traders stood firm over proposals to restore it for public use.

When a council committee halted plans for a refurbishment due to a lack of funds, councillor Keith Ambler said it was an opportunity they could not afford to miss - and the big clean-up of removing industrial grime and market buildings commenced.

On 3rd July 1976, The Piece Hall was officially re-opened as a public space with shops.

There are 315 little units that would have once sold cloth - today they host independent businesses

Nicky, whose husband is from Halifax, first visited around 2006, when once again the building was in decline.

"It was in a terrible state of neglect - just a couple of shops open and wasn't the place people would hang around in. It was really under-utilised," she recalls.

In 2012, Calderdale Council successfully bid for Heritage Lottery funding and the building closed again while work got under way.

Nicky, who had worked on several large heritage projects, was brought in to be chief executive of the newly-formed Piece Hall Trust shortly before the opening on Yorkshire Day, 1 August 2017.

The Piece Hall has hosted all kinds of events since reopening

The refurbishment was a huge undertaking, with a reworked courtyard, seating areas, fountains and atmospheric lighting.

Sandstone was used to restore staircases, pathways and flooring. But while many applauded the sensitivity of the refurbishment, the removal of traditional cobbles for safety reasons - they were not original features - caused outrage among others.

Arguments for and against the transformation raged on social media, intensifying when the Halifax Courier reported the Piece Hall didn't appear to be making enough money in the early days.

"It's been a bit of a journey," says Nicky, about winning over some of the locals.

"I think the team struggled initially - it's very hard to read unfair criticism.

"But some people want different things and it's about understanding and respecting that."

Crowds filled the venue in 2019 when Antiques Roadshow rolled in and the Tour de Yorkshire cycle race set off from there.

The Piece Hall has just had its most successful 12 months, says Nicky Chance-Thompson

When the pandemic hit, the future was even less clear. But as the doors finally reopened and visitors flooded back in, Nicky spotted an opportunity - calling promoters Cuffe and Taylor direct to ask if they wanted in.

Peter was intrigued. He was about 75 miles away from Halifax in Lytham St Anne's for an Anne-Marie gig, so he too seized the moment.

"I just thought, I need to jump in the car and see this lady." When he walked into the Piece Hall, his decision was practically made immediately.

"I looked around me at this amazing building, and I just thought: "Yes."

Some of the shows have had a spectacular finish in the foreground of Beacon Hill

The company was keen not to be seen as the "big boys" taking over. The partnership allows businesses inside the venue and out to benefit from the thousands of extra tourists bringing money into Halifax.

There were just four shows in the first summer season in 2022, but this year's saw 21.

"It's been amazing," says Peter. "Genuinely, everybody is blown away by the venue."

The star-studded line-up is the stuff of dreams for people of the town. For years they've taken packed trains or costly taxis to see their favourite bands in Leeds, Manchester or Sheffield.

These days they're getting the bus into town to watch Paul Weller, the Jacksons or Paloma Faith and walking back home.

The Piece Hall was turned into a Russian square for a scene in Marvel series Secret Invasion

"We have found the people of Halifax to be so, so loyal," says Peter.

He's referring to when George Ezra's first date sold out in minutes, leading to miffed fans turning up at the Piece Hall the next day to complain. Couldn't they put on another night?

Ezra's promoters weren't convinced. The only date free was a Monday - they simply did not believe they'd manage to sell enough tickets on a Monday night in Halifax.

But Peter knew the town pretty well by now. "I was willing to put my reputation on it," he says. The second show was advertised, and sold out almost immediately.

Many took their children along to see George Ezra for their first live gig

Next year's diary is already filling up, Peter says as he counts up prospective shows, not giving anything away.

"Fifteen, eighteen... 21. We've got 21 artists pencilled in. And one confirmed. I can't tell you who they are though. We're having some very interesting conversations."

More than 13.25 million people are estimated to have visited the Piece Hall since its rebirth six years ago. In 2021-22, its income was £4.65m - 90% of that from its own activities - making a profit of £3.46m.

The team works hard to keep the building, which costs £13,000 a day to run, free to enter while working towards it being a global visitor attraction.

"We want to make sure the people of Halifax still feel connected to it but also attract visitors from across the world," says Nicky.

It's not often a tour schedule reads Iowa, Halifax and London - but Limp Bizkit's does

Next year is another big one, with the venue due to host opening and closing ceremonies for Calderdale's Year of Culture.

"And we'll continue to welcome people, whether they're here for a heritage tour, a school trip, running a community activity, getting married here, or seeing an international rock legend," adds Nicky.

"The future is very bright," says Peter.

"My aspiration is to make the Piece Hall the UK's premier music venue."

If the plaudits from Noel, Paloma and Jessie are anything to go by, they may well succeed.

More than 125,000 tickets were sold for the Piece Hall Live shows this summer