"[3] However The Leeds Guide of 1806 despaired of it: "Its form inconvenient, and utterly unworthy of the populous and flourishing town to which it belongs."

It was said by the actress Dorothea Jordan that the green room "was miserable and cold, half the upper part of it admitting the wind and the rain," although advertisements in the Leeds Intelligencer said the stage was "elegantly illuminated by wax candles."

Business was difficult due to the small size of the theatre, its poor condition, its inconvenient location away from the city centre and the heavy industry surrounding the site.

"[1] It had a simple frontage "of the Italian Style," and the Leeds Times described it thus:[3] The box entrance is the central avenue; the foyer is lofty, spacious and well-lighted; the floor is inlaid with tesselated tiles; there is a large and handsome fireplace, with a radiating hearth-stove ... and over the magnificent marble mantelpiece is a large mirror; whilst exquisite statues line the niches on either hand.

The ladies' saloon is a perfect boudoir, for here are ranged round luxurious settees of maplewood covered with silk velvet.

The entrance to the gallery is from the back of the theatre, through Waterloo Street, and in this part of the house, seats have been provided for upwards of eleven hundred people ...

The staircases are of stone, and, in the event of an alarm of fire ever taking place, there are several exits, so that the building can be cleared in an inconceivably short time.

There are traps, slides, slotes, scruter work, counterweights and scores of other complicated arrangements which we do not understand, and cannot therefore attempt to describe.

Hence, in pantomime time, we may expect to see groups of fairies floating about in mid air, descending from the heights above, or ascending from the abyss beneath.

To add to effects of this kind, a magnificent gas apparatus has been laid on by Mr Smith, the celebrated gas engineer, from Birmingham, in addition to which an illuminating machine has been obtained in the shape of a new limelight apparatus, by means of which upwards of thirty different colours of lights can be thrown upon the stage at one time.

Over the roof of the pit, the large property store-room, and immediately adjacent the painting-room, which is, without exception, the very best we have ever seen; we doubt whether any metropolitan theatre has one equal to it.

About twenty minutes to eleven flames were suddenly seen issuing from the high building forming the stage portion of the theatre.

Meanwhile the flames had burst forth in the most alarming manner, threatening destruction not only to the theatre itself, but to the thickly clustered dwelling-houses in the adjoining courts.

The public-houses and other places of resort were just at this time closing, and in a few minutes Briggate, Leeds Bridge, and the narrow streets converging upon Hunslet Lane, in the vicinity of the theatre, were crowded with many thousands of spectators.

Seeing the utter hopelessness of attempting to save anything within the theatre itself (some loose properties in the front hall appeared to be all that was recovered) Mr Henderson, the chief constable, and Mr Baker, the superintendent of the Corporation Fire Brigade, wisely concentrated their efforts upon protecting the neighbouring property.

Seven or eight years ago the theatre, which was originally opened in 1771, was partially rebuilt, considerably enlarged, and generally improved.

The actors and actresses and others who were engaged at the theatre lose the whole of their properties, which they had left in the building at the conclusion of last night's performance.Bradford Observer, 29 May 1875[6]The site is now empty except for a bus shelter and trees.

This arrangement filled the gap while London theatres closed in summer, and famous actors could appear here, for example Sarah Siddons in 1786.

The management attempted to increase income by letting in the poorer members of the public for half-price during the third act, but this caused disturbance and complaints.