Venue: Bedford Corn Exchange
Town: Bedford, GB

The Corn Exchange is an events and concert venue located on St Paul's Square in the Castle area of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. The structure, which was commissioned as a corn exchange, is a Grade II listed building. In the mid-1840s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the "Bedford Corn Exchange Company", to finance and commission a corn exchange for the town. The first corn exchange in Bedford, later referred to as the "Floral Hall", was located in the north-east corner of St Paul's Square and was opened on 1 May 1850. By the early 1870s, it was considered too small, and civic officials decided to commission a larger building. The company that had commissioned the first corn exchange was wound up at that time. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Francis Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper, on 21 October 1872. It was designed by John Ladds and William Powell in the Italianate style, built in brick with stone dressings at a cost of £9,000 and was officially opened by Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford on 15 April 1874. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto St Paul's Square. The central section, of three bays, which was slightly projected forward, was fenestrated with large segmentally headed windows with foliated keystones on the first floor. The bays were separated by pilasters with foliated capitals which supported a stone entablature which was decorated with terracotta panels. At roof level there was a modillioned cornice, a parapet and four chimney stacks. The outer bays featured porches formed by pairs of columns with scrolled capitals supporting entablatures bearing the words "corn exchange" and surmounted by balustraded parapets. The entrance bays, which were lower than the central section, were fenestrated by mullioned and transomed windows on the first floor, with cornices and balustraded parapets above. Internally, the principal room was