This arrangement ceased in 1626, when trading moved to a space covered by a wooden canopy on the south side of the High Street, in front of the Three Tuns Inn.

[2][3][4] In the early 19th century, civic leaders decided to demolish the Three Tuns Inn and to commission a more substantial structure, which would accommodate the corn market and the court of assizes, on the same site.

[5][6] The design featured a large portico with four Tuscan order columns supporting an entablature and a pediment, with the borough coat of arms and some agricultural symbols in the tympanum.

[1] By 1860, the court facilities in the building were found to be "grossly inadequate"[7] and the assizes moved to the County Hall in North Street, which had been commissioned as a mechanics' institute in 1845.

[13] The 1930s car park was redeveloped as a shopping centre, known as "Tunsgate Square", in the 1970s and a mosaic depicting the coats of arms of Guildford and its twin town, Freiburg im Breisgau, was installed under the portico in 1992.