A tall, seven-stage tower of pale brick with stone bands and dressings in Italian Gothic style. At the fifth stage on each face are paired arched windows with cast-iron balconies, whose detached shafts have ornamental capitals. The sixth stage is of open pointed arcading. The clock face above has octagonal corner turrets supporting spirelets, around a tall slated spire with lucarnes and a weather vane. There is a doorway in west face, now blocked.

The clock tower stands on the north end of the complex of the Indoor Market and the Old Town Hall, all three being designed by Alfred Waterhouse. The bells were cast by the same company that cast Big Ben. When built the clock was wound by hand three times a week, until electrification in 1977. Each of the clock faces measures 7 feet (210 cm) in diameter.