Leeds is a major city in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on the River Aire and is the urban core of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough.
According to the 2001 UK census the Leeds Urban Area had a population of 443,247 while the metropolitan borough, City of Leeds had a population of 726,939 and is one of England's core cities.
History
The name "Leeds" came from "Loidis" (Bede states: "...regione quae vocatur Loidis" region known as Loidis), which was a name recorded in Anglo-Saxon sources for a Celtic kingdom that survived in the area for a while after the Anglo-Saxon invasion.
Leeds has been known since being mentioned (as "Ledes") in the Domesday Book of 1086, (the name evolved into "Leedes" and finally "Leeds"). Leeds was an agricultural market town in the Middle Ages, and received its first charter in 1207. In the Tudor period Leeds was mainly a merchant town, manufacturing woollen cloths and trading with Europe via the Humber estuary, and the population grew from 10,000 at the end of the 17th century to 30,000 at the end of the 18th. At one point nearly half of England's total exports passed through Leeds. The Industrial Revolution had resulted in the radical growth of Leeds whose population had risen to over 150,000 by 1840. The city's industrial growth was catalysed by the introduction of the Aire & Calder Navigation in 1699, Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816 and the railway in 1848. In 1893 Leeds had been granted city status. These industries that developed in the Industrial Revolution had included making machinery for spinning, machine tools, steam engines and gears as well as other industries based on textiles, chemicals and leather and pottery. Coal was extracted on a large scale and the still functioning Middleton Railway, the first successful commercial steam locomotive railway in the world, transported coal from Middleton colliery into the centre of Leeds. The first permanent set of fully automatic traffic lights was installed at the junction of Park Row and Bond Sreet, Leeds, in 1928.
By the 20th century this social and economic status had started to change with the creation of the academic institutions that are known today as the University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds Trinity & All Saints. This period had also witnessed expansion in medical provision particularly Leeds General Infirmary and St James's Hospital. Following World War II there was a decline in secondary industries that had thrived in the 19th century. In 1951, half the workforce was still in manufacturing; by 1971 the figure was a third. Leeds lost a third of its manufacturing jobs during 1971-1981 (Champion & Townsend, 1990, p.82). In 1991, 64,000 were employed in manufacturing. In 2003, 2,103 firms employed 44,500 (10% of workforce) - see Leeds Economy Handbook. But there are still some large engineering firms. The largest make turbine blades, components, alloys, valves and pipelines for the oil industry, switchgear, printers' supplies, copper alloys, surgical and hospital equipment, pumps, motors, radiators.
In the 1980s, the Conservative government designated Urban Development Corporations on a number of UK cities: some declining areas were taken out of local authority control and government funding was provided with the aim of speeding up and concentrating private sector investment in the most run-down areas. Leeds Development Corporation ran from 1988-1995 and helped to focus attention on two decayed industrial areas (The lower Kirkstall Valley and the riverside area to the south east of the city centre). Achievements of LDC included refurbishment of many riverside properties, the opening up of Granary Wharf and the Royal Armouries development.
Today Leeds is known as one of eight core cities that act as a focus of their respective regions and Leeds is generally regarded as the dominant city of the ceremonial county of West Yorkshire, and the dominant city in Yorkshire as a whole.
Industry and economy
and List of companies based in Leeds
Leeds was voted Britain's Best City for Business by Omis Research in 2003 but dropped to 3rd place behind Manchester and Glasgow in 2005 ("Relative under-performance over the past two years in transport improvements and cost competitiveness were the major contributing factors"). It is also regarded as the fastest growing city in the UKand has a diverse economy with the service sector now dominating over the city's manufacturing industries. Leeds is the largest financial centre outside the capital. New tertiary industries such as retail, call centres, offices and media have contributed to a high rate of economic growth since the early 1990s. Nearly 100,000 people work in financial and business services - about a quarter of the workforce. The strength of the economy is also indicated by the low unemployment rate.
Growth sectors in financial & business services: banking, labour recruitment*, commercial cleaning, legal services, insurance, pension funds, computing*, architecture and civil engineering, real estate, investigation & security, accountancy, equipment leasing, consultancy & market research*, advertising, and R&D*.
Some of the faster growing sub-sectors during the 1990s marked *.
Transport
Rail
The rail network is still of great importance. Leeds City station is one of the busiest in the UK outside central London, with over 900 trains and 50,000 passengers per day. Its modern interior provides connections to London, Southampton and the south, Birmingham and the Midlands, Bristol and the West Country, Newcastle, Edinburgh and the north, and Manchester and Liverpool and the west, as well as to local and regional destinations. The station itself has 17 platforms, making it the largest in England outside London.
From Leeds City station MetroTrains operated by Northern Rail operate to all parts of West Yorkshire and surrounding local and commuter locations and other operators including GNER, Virgin Cross Country, Midland Mainline and TransPennine Express operate services to the rest of the country.
Leeds has two railway lines offering direct services to London. The principal route is along the East Coast Main Line which operates at least once per hour and is planned to become half-hourly through the day. Midland Mainline offers an alternative route via Leicester along the Midland Main Line to London St Pancras soon to be the home of Eurostar international services. The Midland Mainline service operates principally because the train operators fleet of diesel high speed trains (HST's) is based at Neville Hill maintenance depot in Leeds. There are three trains per day in each direction.
Tram plans
The city had plans in the 1990s and 2000s for a tram network known as Supertram. However the government axed the scheme due to an unwillingness to pay for any costs over budget, and the Department for Transport's apparent preference of a bus-based rapid transport scheme to a tram-based scheme. Leeds remains the largest city in the European Union without a mass transit system.
Roads
Leeds is the focus of the A58, A61, A62, A63, A64 and A65 roads. Nowadays, with the M1 and M62 intersecting just to its south and the A1(M) passing just to its east, it is one of the principal hubs of the northern motorway network. The city centre is pedestrianised, and is encircled by the clockwise-only 'loop road'.
Bus/coach
On 30th January 2006, a zero-fare bus service (the FreeCityBus) started running, on a circular route, in the centre of Leeds.
Leeds has a large modern bus station served by National Express and local bus services. Buses in the city are mainly provided by FirstBus and Arriva. Harrogate & District provides a service to Harrogate and Ripon. The Yorkshire Coastliner service runs from Leeds to Malton, Scarborough, Filey, Whitby and Bridlington via Tadcaster, York and Malton.
Local public transport information
Leeds Travel Info is Leeds City Council's public access website providing real-time travel information in the Leeds area. West Yorkshire Metro provides bus and train information on its website, and offers the innovative "My Next Bus" service of real-time bus information by text message or online. This real-time information is also displayed in certain bus shelters.
Air transport
Leeds Bradford International Airport is located to the north-west of the city and has scheduled flights to destinations within Europe plus Egypt and Turkey and to the rest of the world via London Heathrow Airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
There is a direct rail service from Leeds to Manchester Airport, with trains running throughout the night. Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield is 40 miles from Leeds.
Sea transport
Leeds has good connections by road, rail and coach to Hull, only an hour away, from where it is possible to travel to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge by ferry services run by P&O Ferries.
Development
and List of Developments in Leeds
In recent times Leeds has seen many new developments. High rise schemes are making a much bigger mark on Leeds' skyline. Sixteen skyscrapers are under construction or proposed, all of them taller than West Riding House - Leeds' tallest building since it was built in the 1970s. The UK's tallest building outside of London, Lumiere, has also got the green light for construction in Leeds.
Events
Areas of the City
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Further reading
External links
