The building was originally commissioned by a group of local investors who invested £5,000 to establish a corn exchange: the site they selected had been occupied by a row of houses.

[2] The new corn exchange was designed by Isaac Charles Gilbert in the Italianate style, built in red brick with stone dressings and was officially opened with an event attended by the lord of the manor, the Duke of Newcastle, in July 1851.

[1] The outer bays featured casement windows flanked by Ionic order colonettes supporting curved pediments and there was a central belfry on the roof.

[3] The year after the building was completed Worksop was made a local board district following a significant increase in population, largely associated with coal mining.

[11] At the same the steps leading up to the town hall were removed and the doorways replaced with three round headed windows – access to the building was then obtained through the new archway.