Shops underneath Church street

[PhilipG]

I'd heard stories about stuff underneath Exchange Flags. Wouldn't surprise me, as it was an important trading area - I'm sure there would have been extensive vaults and basements. Now though, it's a carpark isn't it? There's a ventilation shaft that comes up beneath the statue in the middle of the flags.

The car park was built in the 1950s as an early example of an underground car park, when the present Exchange Buildings were erected.
I've never heard that it replaced anything else.
The Town Hall was originally called the Exchange, and the buildings behind are the third to be called Exchange Buildings.
Both Exchange Buildings and the Town Hall, and the Nelson Monument are well documented, but there's never been any mention of anything else underground.