My first visit to Sunny Bank Mills, near Leeds, was three years ago and I've been meaning to return. I noticed they were hosting a Print Fair so I chose that weekend to go. The Print Fair was huge, with some really beautiful work on show and for sale. It was buzzing with people too, so the atmosphere was fun. I had a most enjoyable time browsing, though I didn't actually buy anything. (I have enough artworks as it is!)
Until 2008, Sunny Bank Mills, a large site with a lot of different buildings, was a textile mill making fine worsted cloth. Founded in 1829, its business grew and prospered, declined in the 1930s after the Great Depression and then grew again, thriving in the 1950s-70s as one of the finest cloth producers in the world. Trade plummeted after the Gulf War in the 1990s and by 2008 the mill's owners decided to close the textile business. Unusually, they kept ownership of the site, deciding on a regeneration programme that has seen the buildings restored and over 75 businesses move in, many connected with design and textiles. There's an art gallery and cafés, artists studios and numerous events held on site.
The 1912 mill (below) may be familiar to some as the place where The Great British Sewing Bee (a popular TV competition for home sewers) is now filmed. In fact, I suspect that the Print Fair was using some of the same rooms where the programme is made.
In the three years since my first visit, the whole site has been developed quite a lot more. It's a rather wonderful place.
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