The hall was used for many purposes, including council meetings, feasts, as a courtroom, and for theatrical performances; the ultimatum given to the city during English Civil War was discussed here.

The Guild was an association of merchants and gentry established in 1350 to protect trade in the town and for a variety ritual purposes.

It was dedicated to the Eucharist, the bread and wine of Holy Communion believed by Catholic Christians to hold the divine presence of Christ’s Body (or Corpus Christi in Latin).

[3] The Guildhall was used for banquets, festivals, and as the lodging of a priest who prayed for the souls of deceased Guild members in a chantry chapel in nearby St Martin's Church.

After the intervention of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, the council began restoration work on the building, finishing it in 1926, when the Guildhall was opened as a museum.

[9] At a press conference in the Guildhall on 4 February 2013, it was confirmed that archaeologists had discovered Richard III's remain in the nearby Greyfriars 'Car Park'.

The former Alderman Newton's Greencoat School building, close to the grave site, opened as a permanent Richard III museum, on 24 July 2014.