Leeds Kirkgate Market has welcomed generations of shoppers down the decades. It became the largest indoor market in Europe when it opened in 1857 and through the years has had a tough life with scars to prove it. These photos turn back the focus on life in the market during the 1980s, a time when it was on the rise after a devastating fire in December 1975. Do you remember these stalls and traders? CHANGING LEEDS: The night Kirkgate Market was devastated by fire | 20 photos of Vicar Lane through the years LOVE LEEDS? LOVE NOSTALGIA? Join Leeds Retro on facebook
![Do you remember market traders Crossley's and Wright's? Pictured here in November 1981.](https://www.thestar.co.uk/webimg/QVNIMTE1Nzg5NTkw.jpg?crop=3:2&trim=&width=640)
7. Kirkgate Market in the 1980s
Do you remember market traders Crossley's and Wright's? Pictured here in November 1981.
![The open air market in October 1982. Did you shop here back in the day?](https://www.thestar.co.uk/webimg/QVNIMTE1Nzg5NTkx.jpg?crop=3:2&trim=&width=640)
8. Kirkgate Market in the 1980s
The open air market in October 1982. Did you shop here back in the day?
!["There are markets... and markets. But to me Kirkgate is the eighth wonder of the world," wrote one YEP reader who had moved from Leeds to London.](https://www.thestar.co.uk/webimg/QVNIMTE1Nzg5NTky.jpg?crop=3:2&trim=&width=640)
9. Kirkgate Market in the 1980s
"There are markets... and markets. But to me Kirkgate is the eighth wonder of the world," wrote one YEP reader who had moved from Leeds to London.
![A bustling market in October 1984.](https://www.thestar.co.uk/webimg/QVNIMTE1Nzg5NTk1.jpg?crop=3:2&trim=&width=640)
![A thriving market in October 1984. Do you remember these stalls and traders?](https://www.thestar.co.uk/webimg/QVNIMTE1Nzg5NjUy.jpg?crop=3:2&trim=&width=640)
11. Kirkgate Market in the 1980s
A thriving market in October 1984. Do you remember these stalls and traders?
![Do you remember Winston Cornell? He narrowly avoided a legal battle with a top London department store over the name of his market stall - 'Arrods'](https://www.thestar.co.uk/webimg/QVNIMTE1Nzg5NjUz.jpg?crop=3:2&trim=&width=640)
12. Kirkgate Market in the 1980s
Do you remember Winston Cornell? He narrowly avoided a legal battle with a top London department store over the name of his market stall - 'Arrods'