Halifax’s famous Piece Hall records highest number of visitors since 2017 reopening

By Tony Ogaga

Yorkshire tourists are flocking to Halifax's famous Piece Hall in their thousands with last weekend going down as its biggest on record since reopening in 2017.

Figures from The Piece Hall’s automated footfall monitoring have shown that the first weekend of markets helped to bring an incredible 60, 000 people in to the Grade I-listed venue.

This supports broader figures suggesting that November is also set to be The Piece Hall’s busiest month to date since its reopening in 2017 following a £19 million landmark conservation and transformation.

The weekend visitor boost was also a great success for some of The Piece Hall’s 40 resident independent traders, and The Piece Hall’s own restaurant, the Trading Rooms, saw its busiest ever day in the same weekend.

The latest figures suggest not only the venue’s continued recovery following the challenges of pandemic restrictions, but also considerable growth on pre-pandemic visitor levels; the venue’s last Christmas market in 2019 brought in 38, 000 people.

The footfall peak coincided with the first weekend of Winter Makers Markets as visitors showed their support for local independent retailers and made their return to socializing in the traditionally busy period leading up to Christmas