The dominant criticism during the hall's construction was its cost – the council originally granted £39,000 for construction (increased from the 1851 grant of £22,000), but Atak's contract was for a sum of £41,835, a cost increase caused by rising prices of labour and materials. The total cost, after all structural and decoration contracts, is estimated to be around £125,000 (about £ million in ) – and the council had to find extra funding at a time when there was great poverty among Leeds's working classes.