please empty your brain below
Halifax was bought by Bank of Scotland, not Royal Bank of Scotland. (They had their own takeover debacle with ABN Amro)

dg writes: Fixed, thanks.

IslandDweller | 13.01.18 - 8:22 a.m. | #

Piece Hall looks amazingly large - I wonder if it is a trick of the camera that makes it look so huge or is it really that big?

dg writes: It really is that big.

Kirk | 13.01.18 - 9:05 a.m. | #

It's over ten years since I visited Halifax so I must go back and see the revamped Piece Hall which was breathtaking back then. I bought a concrete griffon there, and then had to get it back to Huddersfield...

Sarah | Homepage | 13.01.18 - 9:07 a.m. | #

The town hall was open when we were in Halifax last May, and the ceilings in particular were amazing. It was a side entrance we used and the people on the desk were happy for visitors to go inside. The arcades in Halifax were lovely too, so much ornate ironwork.

Victoria | 13.01.18 - 10:11 a.m. | #

Behind the Halifax Bank building there’s a glass fronted building, where the facade of an old hospital (I think) has been preserved inside.

The bus station also incorporates the facades of the buildings that precede it.

That being said, this is a pretty good summary of Halifax. The only other attraction worth mentioning is a Manor Heath Park, a little out of the town centre, which is the grounds of a demolished stately home. The gardens are nice and there’s a tropical butterfly house that still only costs £1 to enter.

Neil Turner | Homepage | 13.01.18 - 10:16 a.m. | #

Scooby Doo? Am I missing something?

Andrew S | 13.01.18 - 10:27 a.m. | #

Never been, but when I see Halifax it makes me think of the '30s Bill Brandt photos

http://www.billbrandt.com/bill-brandt-archive-print-shop/sp13-halifax-1937

SJM | 13.01.18 - 10:31 a.m. | #

@Andrew S -

Scooby Doo is one of the cartoon characters Halifax is using in their current advertising campaign.

I've been to Halifax four times, every time for footie. I must have been mad.

Chris | 13.01.18 - 11:00 a.m. | #

you forgot to mention catseyes. there's even a 'spoon named after their inventor.

wolf | 13.01.18 - 11:02 a.m. | #

I grew up in Halifax in the 1960s and Barrie's Town Hall and everything else was soot blackened until the late 1970s. My grandfather had a fruit & veg wholesalers in the Piece Hall until the traders were all evicted in 1971 when the place was turned into an outdoor market and tourist attraction. I haven't seen the renovations yet but it looks like (sadly) they have levelled it off and got rid of the old Yorkshire stone cobbles. Not impressed from your pics of the way it's been done. All the traders who occupied the rooms above were evicted before the renovations, so I hope they have been allowed back on the same terms and it's not all fudge shops.

Looking forward to your next post. Bankfield Museum was our favourite place to visit as kids to see the head chopping off equipment. Hope you visited the replica Gibbet (guillotine) re-installed on its original stone plinth just above the town. Halifax was the last place in the UK to dispatch criminals French style.

I can confirm that the smell of toffee and chocolate used to make Halifax station the most aromatic in the country. Maybe they filter it out today somehow.

Jeremy | Homepage | 13.01.18 - 11:17 a.m. | #

Sadly I didn't have time to visit the Gibbet. Or the amazing Wainhouse Tower folly over in King Cross.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.01.18 - 11:59 a.m. | #

The Gibbet... the only thing I know about this place, but what's the point visiting such a device not in action (!?)

P.S. France adopted the guillotine a century and a half after England ceased to do so. Therefore I would pay much caution on describing the Gibbet as "French style" (which was not the case back then)

Patrickov | 13.01.18 - 12:08 p.m. | #

pedant alert
the title of the paragraph says AkroydEn but it should surely be AkroydOn

dg writes: Surely

Caz | 13.01.18 - 1:49 p.m. | #

Lovely stuff. Never been, but will do now.

Frank F | 13.01.18 - 2:36 p.m. | #

Visited Halifax on New year's Day. Boring. Booooring. Most interesting thing was the ANPR at Sainsbury's.

Welcome | 13.01.18 - 4:20 p.m. | #

Jeremy Yes, looking forward to next post. Wondering if Hebden Bridge might feature or if perhaps it was too mainstream/ time didn't permit/ of no interest. Perhaps I'll just have to go myself.

Lorenzo | 13.01.18 - 5:31 p.m. | #

Thank you so much for adding Piece Hall and Leeds Kirkdale market to places I now wish to visit.

The only place I have seen to rival Piece Hall is San Marco in Venice. Let's hope it does not suffer the fate of the Millenium Dome by not having much of interest inside it.

kev | 13.01.18 - 7:28 p.m. | #

The only attraction in Halifax is Wainhouse Tower, apparently the world's tallest folly.

They've done a lot of upkeep on it lately and you can go up it a few days a year: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ulleskelf/albums/72157630371386632

Mark | 07.02.18 - 8:35 p.m. | #











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