[1] In the early 1820s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company to finance and commission a corn exchange for the town.

The north end of the podium, which was circular, provided access to the main trading floor through a small porch, which was surmounted by a statue of the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres.

[6] Set back, high above the podium, there was a tetrastyle portico in antis, formed by Ionic order columns supporting an entablature and a pediment with a clock and a pair of reclining figures in the tympanum.

[1] The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.

A major programme of works, involving the removal of the glass rotunda and the conversion of much of the building into shops and offices, was completed in 1974.