FIRST TENANTS MOVE IN TO NEWLY-RENOVATED PIECE HALL

Progress on the renovation work on The Piece Hall, Halifax. Calderdale Council leader, Tim Swift (right) with Chief Executive of The Piece Hall Trust, Nicki Chance Thompson and Trust Chairman, Roger Harvey The Piece Hall, including Halifax’s oldest family-run independent department store, Harveys. It will boast a new homewares store.

Premium estate agents Yorkshire’s Finest will be there too and Alison Bartram’s husband Paul is set to open a second gallery at The Piece Hall following a period of sustained growth with Alison’s successful Heart Gallery in Hebden Bridge.

Alison, of Heart Gallery, said: “My family is from Halifax and The Piece Hall has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, I even had a stall here in the early ‘90s, so it really seemed like a natural fit for Paul to open our second gallery in the building.”

Former tenants of The Piece Hall were among the first businesses to be offered space in the restored building and two confirmed to return are Creative Crystals and Replicar.

Creative Crystals owner Isobel Hampson has been selling crystals, gemstones and minerals for over 23 years. Replicar, set up in 1985 by Frances Burns and John Minshull, also returns to The Piece Hall this summer with hundreds of collectable die-cast vehicles.

Nicky Chance-Thompson, chief executive of The Piece Hall Trust, which will run the complex, said: “I’m delighted to be announcing the first of our new tenants.”