Threads that link a city's past to the future

To most it looks like a derelict building. Trevor Mitchell sees it a little differently.

When the regional director of English Heritage stands in front of the crumbling White Cloth Hall in Leeds he sees past the metal fencing put up to keep the public out and ignores the steel struts holding up the stone archways.

For him the building, which stands in a still unloved corner of the city centre, encapsulates the story of Leeds's past. It's a tale of industrial ambition and great wealth, told in bricks and mortar.

"Just there was the courtyard where 18th-century traders would tie up their packhorses," says Trevor, pointing to the ground, now littered with rubble.

"Behind you can see the archways, incredible aren't they? And inside that's where the deals would take place. It's the oldest surviving cloth hall in Yorkshire and it's just so fantastic that it's still here after all these years."

Trevor's enthusiasm is infectious. Walking towards the hall he takes a diversion into one of the nearby railway arches to check a pile of timber struts from the roof and stone corbels, which had to be removed from the building, are safely stored and you suspect every time he wanders past the site, it's like he's seeing it for the first time.

There is good reason for his excitement. Leeds's wealth was built on the success of the wool and textile trade and White Cloth Hall, completed in 1711, was central in transforming a cottage industry into a global business.

Prior to its opening, deals were done at a makeshift open market on a bridge over the River Aire, where traders would meet to buy and sell their wares. It might well have continued that way had Wakefield not opened its own covered trading hall. Worried they might lose some of their business to West Yorkshire competitors, the Leeds merchants set to work on their own hall.

"It's not just a building, it's an important chapter in Leeds's past," says Trevor, admiring some stone carvings at what would have been the original entrance to the hall, just a stone's throw from the equally historic Kirkgate Market. "The money generated from the cloth trade led to the building of the Aire and Calder Navigation and all the city's great civic buildings.

"It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when Yorkshire was the centre of the textile world. The entire Russian army was clothed from cloth which started life right here."

The existence of White Cloth Hall has always been known about, but until recently it had been hidden behind a row of run-down businesses. When those buildings were deemed a threat to public safety a demolition team moved in, and Trevor wasn't alone in fearing the 18th-century building might have been so ravaged by time, it could be condemned to a similar fate.

"It was a case of holding your breath a little," he says. "However, when the buildings on the front were pulled down, what was left behind was pretty incredible.

"Two-thirds of the building is intact and given that it's been standing for almost three centuries that's pretty impressive."

Trevor has a glass half-full approach to preserving historic buildings, but even he admits that structurally the Grade II* White Cloth Hall is in a fragile state. With Leeds home to 2,400 other listed buildings – more than Newcastle, Manchester or even York – there is much competition for funding.

Add to that the effect of public spending cuts – English Heritage's annual budget has already been slashed by 32 per cent – and simply being the oldest or the biggest no longer guarantees a fat cheque for development.

Work is now under way to ensure the hall is weather-tight for the winter, but finding the money and the will to bring it back into long-term use poses a much tougher challenge.

"The amount of money we give out in grants will inevitably reduce, but I like to think there's always a way," says Trevor, a man who clearly believes in solutions rather than problems.

"The trick is making the public aware of the architectural gems they may well walk past each day and just what it is they will lose if these buildings are allowed to disappear. At first we thought the only option might be to start again and build a replica hall, but now there is an opportunity to restore it and with next year marking its 300th anniversary, we really should make the most of it.

"I'm not saying it's easy, it's not. Kirkgate is the oldest street in Leeds, but as the city grew, its heart moved west. Every urban centre has its downtown and in Leeds, this is it.

"Over the last decade or so the city has been transformed and this little corner is perhaps the last that needs attention. It's not just a question of throwing money at a project, what White Cloth Hall needs is a long-term purpose and a little lateral thinking to get past the slow and busy bus lanes. The key is stitching it back into the rest of the city centre."

Just what's possible to achieve with a little ingenuity can be seen elsewhere. The Electric Press development on Millennium Square in Leeds took three former industrial buildings and created a home for the new Carriageworks Theatre as well as various bars and restaurants. White Cloth Hall already stands in a designated conservation area and while the future will undoubtedly be tough financially, the knock-on effects of the recession and the subsequent Comprehensive Spending Review, may yet be its saviour.

"Leeds has shown in the past that reinvesting in the past keeps the economy going at a time when skyscrapers aren't being built," says Trevor.

"It happened in the recession of the 1990s which saw the re-opening of buildings like the Corn Exchange and countless others are now modern office spaces. Also look at places like the Old Post Office building which is now a restaurant and the Tiled Hall at the art gallery, which is now a caf. It doesn't really matter what these buildings are used for, it's the fact that they are being used at all which is important.

"I'm a historian by training and I'm interested in buildings, whether its a 1960s office development or a Victorian town hall, because of what they tell us about the past. Everything is a piece of a much bigger jigsaw, but restoration should never be about preserving bricks and mortar in aspic. If these buildings are going to survive, they need to find a use which is sustainable.

"Leeds has been very successful at using its history and its heritage as part of the working city, but perhaps in the past it has been reluctant to shout about its industrial past. There's almost been a sense of embarrassment about how much heritage it has and instead it has concentrated on showing itself to be a modern city with modern aspirations. It has tended to promote itself as a city of business, rather than a city tied to the past, but I honestly believe you can have both."

After an hour or so in Trevor's company it's impossible not to

be convinced.

CITIES EMBRACE INDUSTRIAL PAST

TEMPLE WORKS: The 19th-century mill in Holbeck, Leeds, built to resemble an Egyptian temple is in need of much repair. A section of the roof collapsed in 2008, but plans still remain to turn it into a temporary arts space.

PIECE HALL: The Grade I listed Georgian building has been a landmark in Halifax for more than 230 years. A 16m restoration plan is being developed to preserve the past and give the site a future.

DARNALL WORKS: The biggest crucible works in the world was key to Sheffield's steel industry. Redundant for 10 years, repairs have recently been completed and it is now being used as a storehouse.