Leeds Library — The New Room

Summary

Leeds Library on Commercial Street — the oldest surviving subscription library in the UK, founded in 1768. The New Room at 90-person capacity. £345/hr. A Georgian literary society interior in Leeds city centre.

About this location

Leeds Library is the oldest surviving subscription library in the United Kingdom, founded in 1768 and continuously operating since then. The library occupies its original Commercial Street building and retains the character of an 18th-century literary society space. The New Room at 90-person capacity is the library’s main hire space. At £345/hr the rate is at the premium end of the Leeds civic hire market, reflecting the building’s heritage status. The interior character of an 18th-century subscription library — period bookshelves, the proportions of a Georgian reading room, original fittings — provides a specific historical and intellectual atmosphere that the wider commercial studio market cannot replicate. Commercial Street is in the heart of Leeds city centre, accessible from Leeds Station.