Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds: History of Yorkshire’s 19th century clothing mills used to film BBC show The Great British Sewing Bee

The former textile mill specialised in worsted cloth, a high quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn and a yarn weight category.

It is set in 10 acres of land on Town Street in Farsley, Leeds and since 2010, it has been developed as a business and artistic hub with an exhibitions gallery selling fine art by local artists.

It also includes a textile and local history archive, shops, cafes, artist studios as well as outdoor spaces. Sunny Bank is the main filming location for the ninth series of BBC One show The Great British Sewing Bee.

History of Sunny Bank Mills

In 1829 Sunny Bank Mills were founded by a group of local clothiers who invested together to buy land and build a woollen scribbling and fulling mill. It was then known as The Farsley Club Mill.

One of the trustees who ran the mill was John Gaunt, then in 1882 Edwin Woodhouse bought the majority shares and became the owner.

He went on to expand the mills over the next three decades; he had no sons to pass the mill on to, so he sold his interest to James Ives and Co of Yeadon in 1912 and the mill had a renowned reputation for producing fine worsted cloth.

During the First World War, Sunny Bank Mills went through a rapid expansion when wool tycoon William C. Gaunt bought the mills. He owned mills all over the world.

W.C. Gaunt went through financially hard times during the Great Depression in 1929 and his mills fell under the control of the Inland Revenue and five major banks.

Following W.C. Gaunt’s death in 1943, his son Alfred reached a settlement with the banks and regained control of Sunny Bank Mills.

During the 1950s and 1960s the mill went through a period of great prosperity and built an export business and consolidated its reputation as one of the finest cloth producers in the world.

The mill reinvested in weaving in 1975 and ends its combing and spinning operations.

The Gulf War disrupted trade in the mill’s most vital market in 1990; sales struggled to fully recover ever since.

After 180 years, production of fine worsted cloth ended at Sunny Bank Mills in 2008 and moved to Huddersfield.

John and William Gaunt began a multi-million pound renovation programme of Sunny Bank Mills as a Creative Space for Business in 2010 with the goal of regaining its status as the biggest centre for employment in the area.

The first art exhibition was hosted in 2012 at Sunny Bank Mills.

The mill expanded in 2015 when a planning permission agreement was granted by Leeds City Council which allowed a flexible redevelopment of the whole mill site with a variety of purposes.

The transformational Weavers’ Yard project began in 2019, creating more than 60,000 sq ft of open space by clearing some of the disused weaving and scouring sheds.

Sunny Bank Mills is now home to 75 businesses and employs more than 350 people.