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Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It expanded by becoming a major production and trading centre (mainly with wool) in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Leeds developed as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution alongside other surrounding villages and towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was also known for its flax industry, Foundry, engineering and printing, as well as shopping, with several surviving Victorian era arcades, such as Kirkgate Market. City status was awarded in 1893, and a populous urban centre formed in the following century which absorbed surrounding villages and overtook the population of nearby York.
Leeds' economy is the most diverse of all the UK's main employment centres, has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of private to public sector jobs. Leeds is home to over 109,000 companies, generating 5% of England's total economic output of £60.5 billion, and is also ranked as a high sufficiency city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Leeds is considered the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area.
Leeds is also served by five universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and the country's fourth largest urban economy. The student population has stimulated growth of the nightlife in the city and there are ample facilities for sporting and cultural activities, including classical and popular music festivals, and a varied collection of museums.
Leeds has multiple motorway links such as the M1, M62 and A1(M). The is, alongside Manchester Piccadilly, the busiest of its kind in Northern England. Public transport, rail and road networks in the city and wider region are widespread. It is the county's largest settlement, with a population of 536,280, while the larger City of Leeds district has a population of 812,000 (2021 census). The city is part of the fourth-largest built-up area by population in the United Kingdom, West Yorkshire Built-up Area, with a 2011 census population of 1.7 million.
Bede states in the fourteenth chapter of his Ecclesiastical History, in a discussion of an altar surviving from a church erected by Edwin of Northumbria, that it is located in ...regione quae vocatur Loidis (Latin, "the region which is called Loidis"). An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner, a word of uncertain origin. The term Leodensian is also used, from the city's Latin name.
Before the Industrial Revolution, it became a co-ordination centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth, and white broadcloth was traded at its White Cloth Hall. Leeds handled one sixth of England's export trade in 1770. Growth, initially in textiles, was accelerated by the creation of the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1699 (with major additional works in the 18th century) and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816. In the late Georgian period era, Lupton family was one of a number of central Leeds landowners, some of whom, like him, were also textile manufacturers. At the time of his death in 1828, Lupton occupied the enclosure fields of the manor of Leeds, his estate including a mill, reservoir, substantial house and outbuildings.
Mechanical engineering, initially to supply tools and machinery for the textile sector, rapidly became a diverse industry.
The railway network constructed around Leeds, starting with the Leeds and Selby Railway in 1834, provided improved communications with national markets and, significantly for its development, an east–west connection with Manchester and the ports of Liverpool and Hull giving improved access to international markets. Alongside technological advances and industrial expansion, Leeds retained an interest in trading in agricultural commodities, with the Corn Exchange opening in 1864.
Marshall's Mill was one of the first of many factories constructed in Leeds from around 1790 when the most significant were woollen finishing and flax mills. Manufacturing diversified by 1914 to printing, engineering, chemicals and clothing manufacture. Decline in manufacturing during the 1930s was temporarily reversed by a switch to producing military uniforms and munitions during the Second World War. However, by the 1970s, the clothing industry was in irreversible decline, facing cheap foreign competition.
The contemporary economy has been shaped by Leeds City Council's vision of building a '24-hour European city' and 'capital of the north'. The city has developed from the decay of the post-industrial era to become a telephone banking centre, connected to the electronic infrastructure of the modern global economy. There has been growth in the corporate and legal sectors, and increased local affluence has led to an expanding retail sector, including the luxury goods market.Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone was launched in April 2012 to promote development in four sites along the A63 East Leeds Link Road.
| +Leeds (parish) population | |
| Source: UK census | |
The inhabitants petitioned Charles I for a charter of incorporation, which was granted in 1626. The new charter incorporated the entire parish, including all eleven townships, as the Borough of Leeds and withdrew the earlier charter. Improvement commissioners were set up in 1755 for paving, lighting, and cleansing of the main streets, including Briggate and further powers were added in 1790 to improve the water supply.
The borough corporation was reformed under the provisions of Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Leeds Borough Police force was formed in 1836, and Leeds Town Hall was completed by the corporation in 1858. In 1866, Leeds and each of the other townships in the borough became . The borough became a county borough in 1889, giving it independence from the newly formed West Riding County Council and it gained city status in 1893.
The county borough was abolished on 1 April 1974, and its former area was combined with that of the municipal boroughs of Morley and Pudsey; the urban districts of Aireborough, Horsforth, Otley, Garforth and Rothwell; and parts of the rural districts of Tadcaster, Wetherby, and Wharfedale. This area formed a metropolitan district in the county of West Yorkshire. It gained both borough and city status and is known as the City of Leeds. Initially, local government services were provided by Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire County Council. When the county council was abolished in 1986, the city council absorbed its functions, and some powers passed to organisations such as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority. From 1988 two run-down and derelict areas close to the city centre were designated for regeneration and became the responsibility of Leeds Development Corporation, outside the planning remit of the city council. Planning powers were restored to the local authority in 1995 when the development corporation was wound up.
Residential growth occurred in Holbeck and Hunslet from 1801 to 1851, but, as these townships became industrialised new areas were favoured for middle class housing. Land south of the river was developed primarily for industry and secondarily for back-to-back workers' dwellings. The Leeds Improvement Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. clvii) sought to improve the quality of working class housing by restricting the number of homes that could be built in a single terrace.
Holbeck and Leeds formed a continuous built-up area by 1858, with Hunslet nearly meeting them. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, population growth in Hunslet, Armley, and Wortley outstripped that of Leeds. When pollution became a problem, the wealthier residents left the industrial conurbation to live in Headingley, Potternewton and Chapel Allerton which led to a 50% increase in the population of Headingley and Burley from 1851 to 1861. The middle-class flight from the industrial areas led to development beyond the borough at Roundhay and Adel. The introduction of the Leeds Tramway led to intensification of development in Headingley and Potternewton and expansion outside the borough into Roundhay.
Two private gas supply companies were taken over by the corporation in 1870, and the municipal supply provided street lighting and cheaper gas to homes. From the early 1880s, the Yorkshire House-to-House Electricity Company supplied electricity to Leeds until it was purchased by Leeds Corporation and became a municipal supply.
Slum clearance and rebuilding began in Leeds during the interwar period when over 18,000 houses were built by the council on 24 estates in Cross Gates, Middleton, Gipton, Belle Isle and Halton Moor. The slums of Quarry Hill were replaced by the innovative Quarry Hill flats, which were demolished in 1975. Another 36,000 houses were built by private sector builders, creating suburbs in Gledhow, Moortown, Alwoodley, Roundhay, Colton, Whitkirk, Oakwood, Weetwood, and Adel. After 1949 a further 30,000 sub-standard houses were demolished by the council and replaced by 151 medium-rise and high-rise blocks of council flats in estates at Seacroft, Armley Heights, Tinshill, and Brackenwood. Leeds has seen great expenditure on regenerating the city, attracting in investments and flagship projects, as found in Leeds city centre. Many developments boasting luxurious penthouse apartments have been built close to the city centre.
Attempts to define the exact geographic meaning of Leeds lead to a variety of concepts of its extent, varying by context include the area of the city centre, the urban sprawl, the administrative boundaries, and the functional region. Leeds has a varying extent by context such as the city centre, the built-up sprawl around the centre, administrative boundaries and the travel to work area. The city centre lies in a narrow section of the Aire Valley at about above sea level. The land use in the central areas of Leeds is overwhelmingly urban. while being less than from the rural Yorkshire Dales. It is contained within the Leeds Inner Ring Road, formed from parts of the A58 road, A61 road, A64 road, A643 road and the M621 motorway. Briggate, the principal north–south shopping street, is pedestrianised and Queen Victoria Street, a part of the Victoria Quarter, is enclosed under a glass roof. Millennium Square is a significant urban focal point. ]] Inner and southern areas of Leeds lie on a layer of coal measure sandstones forming the Yorkshire Coalfield. To the north parts are built on older sandstone and gritstones and to the east it extends into the magnesian limestone belt.
Lying in the eastern foothills of the Pennines, there is a significant variation in elevation within the city's built-up area. The district ranges from in the far west on the slopes of Ilkley Moor to about where the rivers Aire and Wharfe cross the eastern boundary. Land rises to in Cookridge, just from the city centre. The northern boundary follows the River Wharfe for several miles (several kilometres), but it crosses the river to include the part of Otley which lies north of the river. The Leeds postcode area covers most of the City of Leeds district and is almost entirely made up of the Leeds post town. Otley, Wetherby, Tadcaster, Pudsey and Ilkley are separate post towns within the postcode area.
Over 60% of the Leeds district is green belt land and it surrounds the settlement, preventing further sprawl towards nearby communities. Larger outlying towns and villages are exempt from the green belt area. However, smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas are 'washed over' by the designation. The green belt was first adopted in 1960, and the size in the borough in 2017 amounted to some . A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure interests, with rural landscape features, greenfield areas and facilities including Temple Newsam Park and House with golf course, Rothwell Country Park, Middleton Park, Kirkstall Abbey ruins and surrounding park, Bedquilts recreation grounds, Waterloo lake, Roundhay castle and park, and Morwick, Cobble and Elmete Halls.
July is the warmest month, with a mean temperature of , while the coldest month is January, with a mean temperature of . Temperatures above and below are not very common but can happen occasionally. Temperatures at Leeds Bradford Airport fell to in December 2010 and reached at Leeds city centre in August 2003.
The record temperature for Leeds is recorded on 19th July 2022 at Bramham 10 miles east of Leeds City Centre, it’s likely the temperature within Leeds City Centre exceeded this but the Leeds weather centre closed in 2000.
As is typical for many sprawling cities in areas of varying topography, temperatures can change depending on location. Average July and August daytime highs exceed (a value comparable to South East England) in a small area just to the south east of the city centre, where the elevation declines to under . This is milder than the typical summer temperature at Leeds Bradford airport weather station (shown in the chart below), at an elevation of . Situated on the eastern side of the Pennines, Leeds is among the driest cities in the United Kingdom, with an annual rainfall of . Though extreme weather in Leeds is relatively rare, thunderstorms, blizzards, gale-force winds and even tornadoes have struck the city. The last reported tornado occurred on 14 September 2006, causing trees to uproot and signal failures at Leeds City railway station.
In January 2011, Leeds was named as one of five "cities to watch" in a report published by Centre for Cities. The report shows that the average resident in Leeds earns £471 per week, 17th nationally and 30.9% of Leeds residents had NVQ4+ high-level qualifications, 15th nationally. Employment in Leeds was 68.8% in the period June 2012 to June 2013, which was lower than the national average, whilst unemployment was higher than the national average at 9.6% over the same time period. Leeds is overall less deprived than other large UK cities and average income is above regional averages.
| + Leeds compared | ||||
| urban subdivision within the West Yorkshire urban area | ||||
! 2021 | England | |||
| 56,489,840 | ||||
| 81.0% | ||||
| 9.6% | ||||
| 4.2% | ||||
In 2011, the Leeds urban subdivision had a population of 474,632 and had an area of with a population density of . It is bounded by, and physically attached to, the other towns of Garforth to the east, Morley to the southwest and Pudsey to the west, all being within the wider borough. 63% of the borough's population of 751,485 live in the urban subdivision, while it takes up only 21% of its total area of 552 km2.
Leeds is a diverse city with over 75 ethnic groups, and with ethnic minorities representing 21% of the total population. According to figures from the 2021 UK Census, 79% of the population was White people (73.4% White British, 0.8% White Irish, 0.2% Gypsy or Irish Traveller, 4.5% Other White), 3.3% of mixed race (1.2% White and Black Caribbean, 0.5% White and Black African, 0.9% White and Asian, 0.7% Other Mixed), 9.7% British Asian (3.9% Pakistani, 2.6 % British Indian, 0.7% Bangladeshi, 1.0% British Chinese, 1.5% Other Asian), 5.6% Black British (4.0% African, 1.0% Caribbean, 0.6% Other Black), 0.7% British Arab and 1.6% of other ethnic heritage. Leeds has seen many new different countries of birth as of the UK Census including Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Iran, India and Nigeria all included in the top ten countries of birth in the city. Large Pakistani communities can be seen in wards such as Gipton and Harehills. Chapel Allerton is known for having a large Caribbean community.
The majority of people in Leeds identify themselves as Christian. The proportion of Muslims (3.0% of the population) is average for the country. Leeds has the third-largest community of Jews in the United Kingdom, after those of London and Manchester. The areas of Alwoodley and Moortown contain sizeable Jewish communities.M. Freedman (1988) "The Leeds Jewish Community" pp. 161–174 in L. S. Tate (ed) Aspects of Leeds 16.8% of Leeds residents in the 2001 census declared themselves as having "No Religion", which is broadly in line with the figure for the whole of the UK (also 8.1% "religion not stated"). The crime rate in Leeds is well above the national average, like many other English major cities. In July 2006, the think tank Reform calculated rates of crime for different offences and has related this to populations of major urban areas (defined as towns over 100,000 population). Leeds was 11th in this rating (excluding London boroughs, 23rd including London boroughs). Total recorded crime in Leeds fell by 45% between March 2002 and December 2011
Most of the district is an unparished area. In the unparished area, there is no lower tier of government. Outside the unparished area, there are 31 civil parishes, represented by parish councils. These are the lowest tier of local government and absorb some limited functions from Leeds City Council in their areas.
The district is represented by ten MPs, for the constituencies of Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel, Labour) ; Leeds East (Richard Burgon, Labour); Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton, Labour); Leeds North West (Katie White, Labour); Leeds South (Hilary Benn, Labour); Leeds South West and Morley (Mark Sewards, Labour); Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves, Labour); Selby (constituency shared with North Yorkshire) (Keir Mather, Labour); Wakefield and Rothwell (constituency shared with City of Wakefield) (Simon Lightwood, Labour); and Wetherby and Easingwold (constituency shared with North Yorkshire) (Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative).
In 2011, the financial and services industry in Leeds was worth £2.1 billion, the fifth-largest in the UK, behind London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Tertiary industries such as retail, , offices and media have contributed to a high rate of economic growth. The city also hosts the only subsidiary office of the Bank of England in the UK. In 2012 GVA for the city was recorded at £18.8 billion, with the entire Leeds City Region generating a £56 billion economy. Key sectors include finance, retail, leisure and the visitor economy, construction, manufacturing and the creative and digital industries. It has one of the most diverse economies of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city. It also has the highest ratio of private to public sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities, with 77% of its workforce working in the private sector. Leeds has the third-largest jobs total by local authority area, with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. Leeds is ranked as a "High Sufficiency" level city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Today, Leeds has become the largest legal and financial centre outside London, with the financial and insurance services industry worth £13 billion to the city's economy.
Office developments, also traditionally located in the inner area, have expanded south of the River Aire and total of space. In the period from 1999 to 2008 £2.5 billion of property development was undertaken in central Leeds; of which £711 million has been offices, £265 million retail, £389 million leisure and £794 million housing. The city saw several firsts, including the oldest-surviving film in existence, Roundhay Garden Scene (1888), and the 1767 invention of soda water.
Major companies based in the city include William Hill, Channel 4, International Personal Finance, Asda, Leeds Building Society and Northern Foods. Capita Group, KPMG, Direct Line, Aviva, Yorkshire Building Society, BT Group, Telefónica Europe (O2 Ltd) and TD Waterhouse all also have a considerable presence in the city. In addition to other national governmental offices, the city is home to a large Department for Work and Pensions office building located in Quarry Hill, notable for its imposing design.
Leeds is the UK's third-largest manufacturing centre and 50% of the UK's manufacturing base is within a two-hour drive of Leeds. With around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology. Manufacturing |Leeds economy & relocation . Locate in Leeds. Retrieved on 17 July 2013. Manufacturing and distribution accounted for £26 million of new property development in the period. There is an established creative industry in the city, particularly in the digital gaming sector. A number of large developers have studios in and around the city, including Activision, developers of the mobile versions of the Call of Duty series, and Rockstar Leeds, developers of the Grand Theft Auto series. In 2009 Leeds was the first city outside London to host the Eurogamer Expo.
The finance and business service sector account for 38% of total output with more than 30 national and international banks located in the city, including an office of the Bank of England.
Leeds has over 30 national and international banks, many of whose northern or regional offices are based in the city. It is the headquarters for First Direct and Yorkshire Bank, and has large Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Banco Santander operations. Financial services |Leeds economy & relocation . Locate in Leeds. Retrieved on 17 July 2013. The city is also an important centre for equity, venture, infrastructure and risk finance. The venture capital provider, YFM Equity Partners, founded in Leeds, is now the UK's largest provider of risk capital to small and medium-sized enterprises. The National Wealth Fund, founded to support economic growth across the United Kingdom, is also based in Leeds.
In 2016, Leeds received 27.29 million leisure tourist visits generating over £1.6 billion for the city, according to data from a STEAM survey. That was a 15.9% increase in revenue over 2015. A 9.7% increase in visits had been recorded since 2013. The industry supported over 19,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2016.
Leeds has become a hub of public-sector health bodies. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, NHS Digital, and Public Health England all have large offices in Leeds. Europe's largest teaching hospital is also based in Leeds, and is home to the Yorkshire Cancer Centre, the largest of its kind in Europe. Information on Leeds – Facts and Figures . Leeds City Guide. Retrieved on 17 July 2013.
Key government departments and organisations in Leeds include the Department for Work and Pensions, with over 3,000 staff, the DHSC, with over 800 staff, HM Revenue and Customs with over 1,200 staff and the British Library with 1,100 staff.
Leeds is home to one of the largest indoor markets in Europe, Leeds Kirkgate Market. The district also has various regular local markets in Otley, Pudsey, and Yeadon. Between 1987 – 1995, Leeds Kirkgate market was renovated. The changes have maximised the retail provision in the market without compromising the historical features of the building, so much so that the renovated Kirkgate Market Hall structure was promoted from Grade II to Grade I listing status, and was subsequently nominated for a Civic Trust Award.
There is an annual German Christmas Market ("Christkindelmarkt") based in Millennium Square, usually running from early November to mid-late December. The 2020 Christmas Market was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The extensive retail area of Leeds is the principal regional shopping centre for the whole of the Yorkshire and the Humber region, offering a spend of £1.93 billion annually in 2013. There are a number of indoor shopping centres in the centre of the city, including the Merrion Centre, St John's Centre, The Core, the Victoria Quarter, The Light, the Corn Exchange, Trinity Leeds, and Victoria Gate. In total, there are well over 1,000 retail stores, with a combined floorspace of in Leeds City Centre., opened in 1900]] The Victoria Leeds is notable for its high-end luxury retailers and impressive architecture. 70 stores such as Louis Vuitton, Vivienne Westwood, Diesel, and anchor Harvey Nichols are contained within two iron-wrought Victorian arcades, and a new arcade formed by arcading Queen Victoria Street with the largest expanse of stained glass in Britain. View Details (Popup) – VQ Website. V-q.co.uk. Retrieved on 17 July 2013. UGG® Australia comes to Leeds's Victoria Quarter. UGG Australia. Retrieved on 17 July 2013. is Leeds's largest shopping centre and one of the largest in Europe.]]In the Churwell area of Leeds is the White Rose Shopping Centre. Opening in 1997, the centre has over 100 high street stores anchored by Marks & Spencer, Primark, NEXT, and Sainsbury's. On 21 March 2013, a large shopping and leisure complex called Trinity Leeds opened in the city centre. The modern and interactive retail space covers the old Burton Arcades and the former Trinity Leeds with its main entrance from Briggate.
On 20 October 2016, Victoria Leeds shopping centre opened with its flagship store, John Lewis. Three quarters of the stores in Victoria Gate were the first for the retailers outside of London. Of the 40,000 people who work in retailing in Leeds, three quarters work in the wider district. The Springs, located to the east of the city suburbs, just off junction 46 of the M1.
The built environment embraces edifices of civic pride like Morley Town Hall and the trio of buildings in Leeds, Leeds Town Hall, Corn Exchange, and Leeds City Museum, by the architect Cuthbert Brodrick. The two white buildings on the Leeds skyline are the Parkinson building of Leeds University and the Civic Hall, with golden owls adorning the tops of the latter's twin spires.
Armley Mills, Tower Works, with its campanile-inspired towers, and the Egyptian-style Temple Works hark back to the city's industrial past, while the site and ruins of Kirkstall Abbey display the beauty and grandeur of Cistercian architecture. Notable churches are Leeds Minster (formerly Leeds Parish Church), St George's Church and Leeds Cathedral, in the city centre, and the Church of St John the Baptist, Adel and Bardsey Parish Church in quieter locations. Notable non-conformist chapels include the Salem Chapel, dating back to 1791 and notably the birthplace of Leeds United Football Club in 1919.
Leeds is one of only a few UK cities outside of London to have a significant number of high-rise buildings, the tower of Bridgewater Place, also known as The Dalek, is part of a major office and residential development and was the region's tallest building until Altus House was completed in 2021; it can be seen for miles (kilometres) around. Among other Skyscrapers the 37-storey Sky Plaza to the north of the city centre stands on higher ground so that its is higher than Bridgewater Place and the aforementioned, 38-storey Altus House in Arena Quarter, standing at 380 metres. Elland Road (football) and Headingley Stadium (cricket and rugby) are well known to sports enthusiasts, and the White Rose Centre is a well-known retail outlet.
The city has good rail and road links to the rest of the country. Leeds railway station is one of the busiest in Britain, and Leeds is connected to the national road network via the A1(M) motorway, M1 motorway and M62 motorway. The city is served by Leeds Bradford Airport. Plans to improve the public transport network in Leeds have been suggested. In the 1940s plans to build an extensive underground system were not proceeded with because of the Second World War. The Leeds Supertram in the 1990s at a cost of £500 million was cancelled by the Transport Minister Alistair Darling in 2005 after £40 million had been spent on the project due to unforeseen added costs. A proposed £250 million re-introduction of trolleybus in 2007; the plans were cancelled in May 2016 citing little value for money, after millions of pounds spent on inquiries.
In June 2019, in his bid to become Prime Minister, Boris Johnson stated that it was "madness" that Leeds did not have a metro system. In December 2019, in his first Queen's Speech, Johnson promised to "remedy the scandal that Leeds is the largest city in Western Europe without light rail or a metro". Plans are in place to improve public transport in Leeds, with upgrades to railway, bus services, and cycle lanes. A tram system for the city and wider region was announced in 2023.
Air quality in Leeds was declared "unsafe" by the World Health Organization in May 2019. Neville Street, near Leeds railway station, has been measured as the most polluted street outside London. A Clean Air Zone, throughout north Leeds and the city centre, was proposed in 2018. The plan, similar to the London Low Emission Zone, would charge a daily fee for driving "older models of buses, taxis and HGVs" in the zone. The zone was planned to start charging vehicles in January 2020, before being cancelled in October 2020 because of improvements in the city's air quality.
In March 2024, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority announced that buses in Leeds are set to be operated under public ownership.
The City of Leeds local government area has 16 railway stations. A parkway station serving Leeds Bradford Airport and two other new stations in the area, planned for within the next 20 years, were announced in 2016.
The Royal Armouries Museum, the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour, opened in 1996 in a dramatic modern building when this part of the collection was transferred from the Tower of London. It is located a short distance from the city centre at Leeds Dock. It is also one of the largest collections of arms and armour in the world, comprising the UK's National Collection of Arms and Armour, National Artillery Collection, and National Firearms Collection. Thwaite Mills Watermill Museum is a fully restored 1820s water-powered mill on the River Aire to the east of the city centre. Nearby is the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre (formerly housed at the Leeds Museum Resource Centre in Yeadon), National Archives Leeds Museum Discovery Centre the major storage of items not currently on display in museums, and open to the public by appointment. Leeds Discovery Centre website
Further education in Leeds is provided by Elliott Hudson College, Leeds City College (formed by a merger in 2009 and having over 60,000 students), Leeds College of Building, University Technical College (UTC) Leeds, Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College, and Leeds Mathematics School.
Located in the art deco headquarters of the former brewery, The Tetley is a centre for contemporary art. The Gallery at 164 is an independent art gallery exhibiting artists, illustrators, photographers and designers working in all types of media.
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery offers art exhibitions from the University Art Collection and Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery. Art is taught in Leeds at Leeds College of Art which has alumni including Henry Moore and Damien Hirst. Leeds city centre has a variety of statues and sculptures on public display. The city also features an ever-growing host of street art and urban murals, including the UK's tallest mural 'Athena Rising'. This mural is part of a city-wide project 'A City Less Grey', initiated by East Street Arts, which won a national award at the Planning Awards 2018.
/ref> Two bronze statues stand at Elland Road Stadium celebrating former manager Don Revie and team captain Billy Bremner.
The Leeds International Film Festival is the largest film festival in England outside London and shows films from around the world. It incorporates the highly successful Leeds Young People's Film Festival, which features exciting and innovative films made both for and by children and young people. Garforth is host to the fortnight-long festival The Garforth Arts Festival which has been an annual event since 2005. The Chapel Allerton Arts Festival is a week-long music and arts event starting in 1998 and held the week after August Bank Holiday each year. The Leeds Festival Fringe is a week long-music festival created in 2010 to showcase local talent in the week prior to Leeds Festival.
Light Night, one of the UK's largest annual arts and light festivals, takes place in the first week of October, turning the entire city into an art installation with light shows, projections, installations and lots more. Leeds Pride is an annual LGBT+ festival held since 2006 supported by the city council and local business. In 2018 attendance was 40,000 with over 100 floats and benefits the city by over £3.8 million. The city has a sponsorship scheme for its 15 Rainbow Plaques commemorating places and events that are of significance to the LGBT+ community organised through Leeds Civic Trust. Other festivals include Transform and Thought Bubble.
Wordsworth Donisthorpe who was also from Leeds, filmed the second-oldest-surviving film. It is not known if he and Louis Le Prince ever met but they both had a strong connection to the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Donisthorpe's patent for a camera to capture the moving image pre dated Le Prince's by twelve years.
Leeds has a rich film exhibition culture. In addition to the Leeds International Film Festival and Leeds Young Film Festival, the city hosts numerous independent cinemas and pop-up venues for film screenings. The Cottage Road Cinema and Hyde Park Picture House have continuously been showing films since 1912 and 1914, respectively, which ranks them among the oldest still-running cinemas in the UK.
Notable libraries in Leeds are:
Other parks in the city include: Beckett Park, Bramley Fall Park, Cross Flatts Park, East End Park, Golden Acre Park, Gotts Park, the gardens and grounds of Harewood House, Horforth Hall Park, Meanwood Park, Middleton Park, Potternewton Park, Pudsey Park, Temple Newsam, Western Flatts Park and Woodhouse Moor. There are many more smaller parks and open spaces scattered around the city, which make up around 21.7% of the city's total area. A 2017 survey ranked Leeds 7th among the ten largest UK cities (by population) for the amount of green space, although published comments on the survey pointed out major inconsistencies in the city boundaries used.
As part of the South Bank regeneration project, plans are in development for Aire Park, a new 3.5 hectare city centre park located close to the former Tetley Brewery site. Planning permission for the first phase to be undertaken by Vastint UK was granted in December 2018. In 2023, the Monk Bridge viaduct was restored by a developer and subsequently opened as the Monk Bridge Viaduct Garden.
Leeds is also home to Phoenix Dance Theatre, who were formed in the Harehills area of the city in 1981, and Northern Ballet Theatre. In autumn 2010 the two companies moved into a purpose-built dance centre which is the largest space for dance outside London. It is also the only space for dance to house a national classical and a national contemporary dance company alongside each another.
The First Direct Arena opened in September 2013. The 13,500-seater stadium is rapidly becoming the city's number one venue for live music, indoor sports and many other events. Concerts are also held at the O2 Academy, Elland Road, which has hosted groups such as Queen and Kaiser Chiefs, among others and at the universities. Roundhay Park in north Leeds has seen some of the world's biggest artists including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Robbie Williams. building was named the "best new venue in the world" in 2014 by the Stadium Business Awards.]]
Popular musical acts originating from Leeds include Soft Cell, Kaiser Chiefs, the Pigeon Detectives, the Wedding Present, the Sunshine Underground, the Sisters of Mercy, Hadouken!, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Yard Act, Pulled Apart by Horses, Gang of Four, Hood, the Rhythm Sisters, Utah Saints, Alt-J, and Melanie B of the Spice Girls. A public artwork by Adrian Riley called 'Leeds Song Tunnel'
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On Valentine's Day 1970, the Who performed and recorded their album Live at Leeds at the University of Leeds Refectory. Since its initial reception, Live at Leeds has been cited by several music journalism as the best live rock recording of all time.
Pink Floyd's popular second single "See Emily Play" was written in Leeds in 1967 after a gig in the old Leeds City College Technology Campus, then known as Kitson College. Leeds is the only city outside of London to have its own repertory theatre, ballet, and opera companies.
The F Club was club night that ran in Leeds between 1977 and 1982 and specialised in punk rock and post-punk. It would prove highly influential to the development of the goth subculture, due to it leading to the formation of seminal gothic rock bands like The Sisters of Mercy, The March Violets, and Southern Death Cult. The now-defunct club Le Phonographique was located in the Merrion Centre and was the first gothic nightclub in the world.
Leeds has a well established LGBT+ nightlife scene, predominantly located in the Freedom Quarter on Lower Briggate. The New Penny is one of the UK's longest running LGBT+ venues, and Leeds oldest gay bar. Towards Millennium Square is a growing entertainment district providing for both students and weekend visitors. The square has many bars and restaurants and a large outdoor screen. Millennium Square is a venue for large seasonal events such as a Christmas market, gigs and concerts, and citywide parties. It is adjacent to the Mandela Gardens, which were opened by Nelson Mandela in 2001. A number of public art features, fountains, and greenery can be found here. Yorkshire has a great history of real ale, but several bars near the railway station are fusing traditional beers with a modern bar Leeds also hosts an annual Leeds International Beer Festival, held at Leeds Town Hall every September.
Leeds has a local television station called Leeds TV which is required to broadcast 37 hours a week of first-run local programming. OFCOM allows six local TV stations to cut back on local programming, news and current affairs, Press Gazette, 8 October 2015 The station had launched in 2014 as Made in Leeds which launched across the city in 2014.
Guiseley was formed in 1909 and plays at the 4,000 capacity Nethermoor Park Stadium in Guiseley; the team plays in the Northern Premier League. Farsley Celtic was formed in 1908 and plays in the National League North and their stadium is Throstle Nest. Garforth Town was formed in 1964 and plays in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division; their stadium is Wheatley Park.
Leeds Rhinos are the most successful rugby league team in Leeds. In 2009, they became first club to be Super League champions three seasons running, giving them their fourth Super League title. They play their home games at the Headingley Rugby Stadium. Hunslet, based at the John Charles Centre for Sport, play in the Co-Operative Championship One. East Leeds and Oulton Raiders play in the National Conference League. Bramley Buffaloes (previously Bramley RLFC), and Leeds Akkies were members of the Rugby League Conference.
Leeds Tykes were the foremost rugby union team in Leeds and they previously also played at Headingley. They play in National League 1 having been relegated from RFU Championship at the end of the 2019–20 season. Otley RUFC are a rugby union club based to the north of the city and compete in National League 2 North, whilst Morley RFC, located in Morley currently play in National Division Three North.
Headingley Cricket Stadium is home to Yorkshire County Cricket Club which is the most successful cricket team in England, with 33 County Championship wins (including one shared). Their main rivals are Lancashire. Leeds City Athletic Club competes in the British Athletics League and UK Women's League as well as the Northern Athletics League.
Leeds is home to a number of field hockey clubs that compete in the Men's England Hockey League, the Women's England Hockey League, the North Hockey League, the Yorkshire Hockey Association League and the BUCS leagues. These include Leeds Hockey Club, Leeds Adel Carnegie Hockey Club, the University of Leeds Hockey Club, and Leeds Beckett University Hockey Club.
The City of Leeds Synchronised Swimming Club train at the John Charles Centre for Sport and are represented by swimmers throughout the whole of the North East. The club was founded in 2008 and only compete in National and International Competition.
]]The city has a wealth of sports facilities including the Elland Road football stadium, a host stadium during the 1996 European Football Championship; the Headingley Carnegie Stadiums, adjacent stadia world-famous for both cricket and rugby league and the John Charles Centre for Sport with an Olympic-sized pool in its Aquatics Centre and includes a multi-use stadium. Other facilities include the Leeds Wall (climbing) and Yeadon Tarn sailing centre. In 1929 the first Ryder Cup of Golf to be held on British soil was competed for at Moortown Golf Club in Alwoodley, and Wetherby has a National Hunt racecourse. In the period 1928 to 1939 speedway racing was staged in Leeds on a track at the greyhound stadium known as Fullerton Park, adjacent to Elland Road. The track entered a team in the 1931 Northern league.
The 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ took place from the Headrow in Leeds city centre on 5 July 2014. Leeds is well known for its divers and features some of the best diving facilities in the UK. City of Leeds Diving Club, who train at the John Charles Centre for Sport, has trained many athletes who have competed at international and Olympic Games level, with Jack Laugher and Chris Mears making history by becoming the first ever divers from Great Britain to win an Olympic gold medal, a feat they accomplished at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Leeds has an ice hockey team, the Leeds Knights (formerly named Leeds Chiefs); they play at the Planet Ice Arena in Beeston, Leeds, in the National Ice Hockey League.
Leeds has a well-established climbing and mountaineering scene. The Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club, England’s second oldest mountaineering club, was founded in Headingley in 1892, and the city is also home to a number of other climbing clubs and venues. The UK’s first artificial climbing wall for training and developing technique was established at the University of Leeds in 1964.
Leeds has hosted the BMC’s British Bouldering Championships, and the Youth Climbing Series Grand Final.
Leeds has a Roman Catholic Leeds Cathedral, the Bishop seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds. Many other Christian denominations and new religious movements are established in Leeds, including Assemblies of God, Baptist, Christian Scientist, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Community of Christ, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus Army, Lutheranism, Methodist, Moravian Church, Nazarene, Newfrontiers, Pentecostalism, Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventist, Society of Friends ("Quakers"), Unitarian, United Reformed, Vineyard, an ecumenical Chinese church, Winners' Chapel, and several independent churches.
The proportion of in Leeds is slightly above average for the country (5.4% as of 2011). can be found throughout the city, serving Muslim communities in Chapeltown, Harehills, Hyde Park and parts of Beeston. The largest mosque is Leeds Grand Mosque in Hyde Park.
The Sikhism community is represented by (temples) spread across the city, the largest being in Chapeltown. There is also a colourful religious annual procession, called the Nagar Kirtan, into Millennium Square in the city centre on 13–14 April to celebrate Vaisakhi—the Sikh New Year and the birth of the religion. It is estimated that around 3,000 Sikhs in Leeds take part in this annual event.
Leeds's Jewish community is the third-largest in the United Kingdom, after London and Greater Manchester. The areas of Alwoodley and Moortown contain sizeable Jewish populations. There are eight active synagogues in Leeds. The Hinduism community in Leeds has a Hindu temple (mandir) at Hyde Park. The temple has all the major Hindu deities and is dedicated to the Lord Mahavira of the Jainism.
Various Buddhism traditions are represented in Leeds, including: Soka Gakkai, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism, Triratna Buddhist Community, and Zen. The Buddhist community (sangha) comes together to celebrate the major festival of Vesak in May. There is also a community of the Baháʼí Faith in Leeds.
West Yorkshire Joint Services provides analytical, archaeological, archives, ecology, materials testing, and trading standards services in Leeds and the other four districts of West Yorkshire. It was created following the abolition of the county council in 1986 and expanded in 1997, and is funded by the five district councils, pro rata to their population. The Leeds site of the archives service is in the former public library at Sheepscar, Leeds. Leeds City Council is responsible for over 50 public libraries across the whole city, including 5 mobile libraries. The main Central Library is located on the The Headrow, in the city centre.
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