carpet and military band on the steps, they entered the building, she knighted the Mayor, and then the hall was declared open on her behalf by the Prime Minister, the Earl of Derby. Later, the Queen was escorted to Wellington station to travel north to Balmoral. On 22 September 1858, only a fortnight after the opening of the Town Hall, the British Association for the Advancement of Science held its annual meeting in Leeds. For many years Leeds had wanted to host a meeting of the British Association, and the building of a large hall made this possible. Since then many meetings, conferences, and exhibitions have been held in the Town Hall. In the 19th century, some major trials were held here, including those of Charles Peace in 1879, and Kate Dover in 1882. The Town Hall and entirely new Victoria Square, built on the site of a single house and garden, and which when completed was completely outsize for what was a residential area, effectively altered the balance of the whole town and led to a great development northwards and westwards from City Square, the former centre. 20th century Leeds Civic Hall, on a nearby site further up Calverley Street, was commissioned in 1929 in a Keynesian project intended to provide work for the local unemployed. The Civic Hall opened in 1933 as the seat of Leeds City Council; the Council Chamber of the Town Hall was converted to a courtroom. On 14 and 15 March 1941, Leeds was bombed by the Luftwaffe. Houses were destroyed in inner-city districts and bombs dropped on the city centre, hitting the east side of the Town Hall, causing significant damage to its roof and walls on Calverley Street. The damage was repaired shortly after, but evidence still remains in Victoria Gardens. For the duration of World War II, the Town Hall crypt housed an ARP post and from 1942 a British Restaurant, where people could enjoy cheap, hot food, which proved popular after the war, being refurbished in 1960 before closing in 1966. In 1951, the Town Hall was designated a Grade I listed building, a status applied to structures of exceptional architectural and historic interest, and which offers statutory protection against unauthorised demolition or modification. A fire damaged the courtroom in 1991. In 1993, Leeds Combined Court Centre opened on Westgate, ending the Town Hall's role as a courthouse; its police