John Dobson (architect) - The Royal Arcade

The Royal Arcade

In 1830 Richard Grainger proposed to the town council the erection of a corn exchange on a site at the bottom of Pilgrim Street, opposite Mosley Street. This plan was rejected but Grainger decided to go ahead and build a shopping arcade there instead. John Dobson produced the design based on an elegant London shopping arcade and it was completed by 1832. It was designed as two office blocks, one facing Pilgrim Street and the other facing Manor Chare. Connecting the two was a narrow block forming the arcade itself. The front façade had six fluted Corinthian columns. The interior of the arcade was 250 feet (76 m) long with an arched ceiling decorated in the Grecian style and with several domed skylights. The whole design was intended as an elegant shopping experience. However, Grainger had sited it in the wrong position away from the developing areas of the town and so it was never a success.