Leeds Kirkgate Market is a social space right in the middle of Leeds city centre. It is Europe’s largest indoor market with over 600 stalls it attracts over 100, 000 visitors every week.
In terms of Kirkgate market’s ‘practice’, as expected, it has many people undergoing their daily routine- customers who return on a regular basis to purchase necessities such as food. It is a wonderful place for locals to bump into one another and socialise. However due to its history and world famous reputation, it is likely that the market has many tourists visiting on a daily basis. The market is right in the heart of Leeds meaning it is really easy just top ‘pop in’ and have a look if they are just on a shopping visit for one day. These people will see it differently to the locals who will possibly remember the fire in 1975 that damaged much of the building. The locals will know the refurbished parts from the old and when they see them it will spark of the memory, hence, how the ‘representational space’ has different meanings for the individual. It is part of their daily chore and would perhaps take the market for granted compared to someone visiting it for the first time.
Taking into account that Leeds Kirkgate Market is almost 200 years old and having been dramatically developed from an open-air market on Briggate it is clear that the original idea has been a success. The indoor market people know today is still over 100 years old signalling that, in comparison to other social spaces in Leeds such as Clarence dock (which eerie and practically deserted), it is the old social spaces which work best. They have been tried and tested over years and build the heart of the city.
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