Thornton’s Arcade

Of the shopping walkways in Leeds I’d have to say I really rate the Thornton’s Arcade. It has some of my favourite shops, unfortunately paired with some less favourites, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Given that OK Comics alone is situated within the arcade is enough to entice a geek like me down their sweet little path. That is not the only reason to wander though, with Hip clothing, Chimp and dare I say Yum Yums (for the commercially crafty ones), there is plenty to get excitable along here. The arcade itself is simply pleasing to walk through, it saves walking in between the many hidden pub alleyways adjacent that invariably house the day drunks and it has a very Victorian style chiming display atop the Briggate end. All in all a pretty nice place to end up in town!

Thornton’s Arcade runs parallel to Queen’s Arcade so it is tempting to compare the two. In terms of the design of the arcade, Thornton’s has very attractive painted blue arches supporting the glass ceiling that makes a walk through the arcade a pleasant diversion from the hectic atmosphere of nearby Briggate. However, I think Queen’s wins with its tiled floor which just adds an edge of quality and gives Queen’s arcade an added lightness and clean feel. But let’s not forget the
Thornton’s Arcade clock featuring roughly life-​sized wooden men in what appears to be rather skimpy medieval attire, whose sole purpose in life is dutifully ringing an assortment of large bells on the hour. Love it!
Shops-​wise Thornton’s Arcade has a wide variety, including clothing shops, shoe shops, jewellery shops, a comic shop, a pen shop, an opticians, a hairdresser’s, sandwich shops, a sweet shop, a Blacks and a Starbucks. So it has a range of charming quality independent shops peppered with a few chains.

I have a new found appreciation for Thorntons Arcade as a whole, oftentimes it can be overlooked for the open spaces of Briggate, and yanno, behind Briggate, in addition to the other shopping centres; The Core, Merrion Centre, St John’s etc, but it is really rather special. There are plenty of independent outlets based here, and they sit well and give good competition to the more established brands that act as their neighbours. A nice home to Blacks, Chimp, both Hip stores, The Pen Shop, Ok Comics, Bön Bons of Leeds, and Argent, plus others, it’s definitely worth diverting off the main route up Briggate to explore what Thorntons Arcade has to offer. Plus if you fall out of Thorntons Arcade at the top end you can fall into yet even more shopping.

Another special arcade of Leeds, well looked after with a good range of shops. This is a really ornate walk through between two main shopping precincts. Such a shiny exterior does it have that I almost feel like I may fall over if I step inside.
Blacks are housed here — the expensive big brother of Millets — along with swish chocolate and sweet shop Bön Bons, a quirky gift shop and an exclusive pen shop. Worth a little trip along to see if something takes your fancy, it has a nice way of muffling the noise from Briggate.