Leeds city centre

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Leeds city centre
LeedsSkyline2013.jpg
A view of the south side of Leeds city centre, from Beeston Hill in February 2013
Leeds-OpenStreetMap-2009-02-25.svg
Street map
Leeds UK location map.svg
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Leeds city centre
West Yorkshire UK location map.svg
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Leeds city centre
Location within West Yorkshire
OS grid reference SE297338
  London 190 mi (310 km)  SSE
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LEEDS
Postcode district LS1, LS2, LS10, LS11
Dialling code 0113
Police West Yorkshire
Fire West Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°47′59″N1°32′54″W / 53.7998°N 1.5482°W / 53.7998; -1.5482

Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters.

Contents

Areas

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Leeds city centre from the south

Under the Headrow

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King Edward Street

The old town is considered the retail core of Leeds, it extends south from buildings on either side of The Headrow to the River Aire. Kirkgate and Briggate are the oldest streets in Leeds, from which the city grew from.Briggate is home to several chain food and shopping chains, was fully pedestrianised in 1996 and connected the two previously pedestrian areas either side of it.

The old town can be can further be subdivided into several areas: the city square; the Victorian arcades (such as the Grand Arcade, Thornton's Arcade and the County Arcade); department stores and indoor shopping centres of The Headrow (such as The Light and St John's Centre), The Calls' markets (Corn Exchange and Leeds Kirkgate Market).

Trinity Leeds opening day Trinity Leeds opening day (Taken by Flickr user 21st March 2013) 002.jpg
Trinity Leeds opening day

Opened 21 March 2013, [1] Trinity Leeds shopping centre had a surge of 130,000 people enter its doors on the first day of opening. Costing £350m, [1] and creating 3,000 jobs, [1] this was a major development for Leeds. It was the only major retail development to open in the UK in 2013. [1] It covers 1,000,000 sq ft (92,900 sq m) [1] [2] with has a capacity for 120 shops and numerous pop-up shops.

The Calls is close to the River Aire. The area's decline began in the early 20th century when industry moved away from the centre outwards. From 1985 to 1995 Leeds Corporation carried out a major regeneration with a careful conversion of listed building warehouses and new build in sympathetic style for a mixed-use area. Many of the area's old industrial buildings have now been converted into modern flats and commercial buildings.

Over the Headrow

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Leeds Arena

Mediaeval Leeds ended at The Headrow, multiple entertainment venues and municipal buildings were built directly north of the narrower shopping areas of the city. [3] [4]

The area's entertainment venues are Leeds Arena, are Leeds Academy, Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House. Millennium Square anchored by the civic hall was a flagship project to mark the year 2000. It hosts regular concerts, with past performers including the Kaiser Chiefs, Bridewell Taxis, HARD-Fi, Fall Out Boy and Embrace.

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Leeds Town Hall

It is home to a number of grand Victorian buildings that are important in the civic life of the city. Prominent institutes include Leeds Magistrates' and Crown Courts, Leeds Library, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Civic Hall and Leeds Town Hall. The town hall was completed in 1858 and opened by Queen Victoria. Leeds Civic Hall opened in 1933 by King George V and is home to the Lord Mayor's Room and the council chambers. Many barristers' chambers and solicitors' offices are found here because of the close proximity to the courts.

The area has a number high-rise residential properties and developments, including Sky Plaza and Opal 3. Altus House is the tallest building in Yorkshire. Other major institutions are located within the Quarter, including the Yorkshire Bank HQ and also the Merrion Centre. Queen Square is also found here.

North-western campuses

Leeds General Infirmary, the Leeds Beckett University and the University of Leeds each have a large campus forming an expansive tri-campus area in the north-east city centre, spanning both sides of the inner ring road and expanding into the areas. In addition to the two university campuses they is also multiple smaller education campuses to the area including Leeds Art University, Notre Dame Sixth Form College, Leeds City College and Blenheim Primary School.

East

Quarry Hill is the city's northern cultural quarter. Centred upon Centenary Square, landmarks include: NHS England's Quarry House; the BBC Yorkshire building, which moved from Woodhouse Lane in August 2004; the Leeds Playhouse, which opened in March 1990; Leeds College of Music, which moved to its current location in 1997; and Northern Ballet which moved to the area in 2010. Leeds City College also has a large campus here.

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Inside the Royal Armouries main stairwell

Leeds Dock is the city's southern Cultural Quarter. It is where the Royal Armouries Museum can be found, the building was designed by architect Derek Walker and built at a cost of £42.5 million over two years. The museum has since become one of the city's major tourist attractions.

West

Infirmary Street in the heart of financial quarter. Infirmary Street, Leeds 2012.jpg
Infirmary Street in the heart of financial quarter.
Park Square in the financial quarter Park Square and Leeds Town Hall - geograph.org.uk - 183544.jpg
Park Square in the financial quarter

The Financial Quarter is bounded by Park Row to the East, Leeds Inner Ring Road to the west, The Headrow to the north and Wellington Street to the south. It is centred on the Georgian Park Square, one of the green spaces in Leeds city centre. The City Centre Loop passes through the quarter, using City Square, Quebec Street, King Street and East Parade. Leeds Law School is at Cloth Hall Court. Major names can be found in the financial quarter such as Aviva and The Bank of England. The district has grown out towards the west of the city. The Wellington Place development and the wider Wellington Gardens area of the city contain a number of international corporations. Wellington Place is currently under construction. [5]

Historically, Holbeck Urban Village was Holbeck's closest area to the centre of Leeds. Due to the expansion of the city, it is now considered part of the city centre and was rezoned as Holbeck Urban Village, following the completion of a number of developments. is the name given by local government and planning agencies to a mixed-use urban renewal area south of Leeds railway station. Bridgewater Place and also Granary Wharf are within Holbeck Urban Village. The new High Speed 2 station will border this area of Leeds, which is why much of the area is considered prime location for development.

Major corporations

Financial

Hospitality in the city centre

Other headquarters include Asda and Channel 4.

Leeds Lights

Each Christmas the streets of Leeds city centre are decorated with a variety of Christmas lights. The widely publicised ‘switch-on' ceremony is in early November, when a celebrity flicks the switch to illuminate the decorations at Victoria Gardens and usually attracts tens-of-thousands of people to the turning on ceremony. When Leeds Lights were first established in 1983, the switch on was held on the 4th Thursday of November, however it has since been brought forward. The illuminations are renowned as being the largest display in the United Kingdom, spanning over 13 miles of city centre streets and using over 2 million low energy light bulbs.

Leeds is notable for designing, manufacturing and maintaining its own Christmas Light motifs. Its workshop began as a place to provide people with disabilities some employment opportunities. Its workshop has had several locations, beginning in a temporary location near Chapeltown Road, then to the old disused Whitbread Brewery site at Kirkstall and from 1993 to the present Seacroft location. Leeds City Council was the only local authority to do this for some years but now a small number have followed Leeds Lights example in preparing their own displays where as most other councils buy in their lights and services. The lights are repaired and pressure cleaned annually at the Leeds Lights workshop in Seacroft throughout the year. 80,000 coloured lamps are stored at the workshop, and 2000m of coloured rope light are used. A team of 14 works all year round producing the display. From October–January, a team of 9 works to erect the lights ready for the switch on in early November, before removing the lights after Christmas.

Commercial advertising has been permitted on some of the lights, such as The Headrow's champagne bottle lights.

Celebrities who turned on the Leeds Christmas lights:

Transport

Rail

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Leeds railway station

Leeds city centre is served by Leeds railway station. The station is one of 20 in Great Britain to be managed by Network Rail. It is the busiest English station outside London, and the UK's second busiest station outside London after Glasgow Central. [7] The station serves national, regional and suburban railway services.

Air

The city centre is served by Leeds Bradford Airport. This is situated in Yeadon approximately seven miles north -west of the city centre. The city centre is linked to the airport by the A1 bus service operated by Yorkshire Coastliner. [8] The airport serves major European destinations as well as many further afield.

Road

Traffic passing past Leeds city centre is diverted away from the main areas by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, an urban motorway passing the East, North and West of the city centre. Much of the Inner Ring Road is in tunnels so not visible to passing pedestrians. All major routes into Leeds head towards the city centre. The city centre is served by the M621 motorway.

Buses

The most notable bus service within central Leeds is the LeedsCityBus service operated by First Leeds and funded by West Yorkshire Metro. This service runs every few minutes in a clockwise direction around the city centre. It serves major transport interchanges and both universities as well as the main shopping and financial districts. There have been calls for a second FreeCityBus to serve emerging business, leisure and residential districts in the southern part of central Leeds.

Leeds city centre has its main bus station in the east of the city. However, as a rule only buses heading out of the City of Leeds and National Express services use it. Local First Leeds buses use stops on the city streets, or a number of smaller bus stations, referred to as bus points, at Bond Street, Infirmary Street, Leeds railway station and the Corn Exchange.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Yorkshire</span> County of England

West Yorkshire is a ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the south, Greater Manchester to the south-west, and Lancashire to the west. The city of Leeds is the largest settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester city centre</span> Central business district in England

Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester, England, within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way, which collectively form an inner ring road. The City Centre ward had a population of 17,861 at the 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds railway station</span> Mainline railway station in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Leeds railway station is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth-busiest railway station in the UK outside London. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Row, behind the landmark Queens Hotel. It is one of 20 stations managed by Network Rail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little London, Leeds</span> Area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Little London is a residential area of Leeds in England, north of the city centre and Leeds Inner Ring Road. It is so called because in the 19th century it had fashionable housing and interesting architecture comparable to London. In the 1950s and '60s it became largely council housing and now consists of a mixture of high and low-rise flats and housing. The area falls within the Little London and Woodhouse ward of the City of Leeds Council. The area is divided into four estates; Lovell Park, Oatlands, Carlton and the Servias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff city centre</span> Central Business District in Wales

Cardiff city centre is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bound by the River Taff to the west, the Civic Centre to the north and railway lines and two railway stations – Central and Queen Street – to the south and east respectively. Cardiff became a city in 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Square, Leeds</span> Square in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

City Square is a paved area north of Leeds railway station at the junction of Park Row to the east and Wellington Street to the south. It is a triangular area where six roads meet: Infirmary Street and Park Row to the north, Boar Lane and Bishopsgate Street to the south-east, and Quebec Street and Wellington Street to the south-west. The only building with a direct frontage is the former General Post Office, on the north-west side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicester City Centre</span> Human settlement in England

Leicester City Centre is Leicester's historical commercial, cultural and transport hub and is home to its central business district. Its inner core is roughly delineated by the A594, Leicester's inner ring road, although the various central campuses of the University of Leicester, De Monfort University and Leicester College are adjacent to the inner ring road and could be considered to be a continuation of the City centre. In a similar way, the Leicester Royal Infirmary precinct, the New Walk business district (Southfields), the Welford Road Stadium of Leicester Tigers' RUFC and the King Power Stadium of Premier League Leicester City to the south, and the Golden Mile to the north could also be deemed to be extensions to the central core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Briggate</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Headrow</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Leeds</span> Shopping mall in Leeds, United Kingdom

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheffield City Centre</span> Central business district in South Yorkshire, England

Sheffield City Centre is a district of the City of Sheffield and is covered partly by the City ward of the City of Sheffield. It includes the area that is within a radius of roughly 0.75 miles (1.2 km) of Sheffield Cathedral and is encircled by the Inner Ring Road, a circular route started in the late 1960s and completed in 2007. As well as the cathedral, buildings in the city centre include the Grade I listed Town Hall, the City Hall and the Winter Gardens. Several areas of the city centre have been designated as quarters. It is home to the city's major business, transport, leisure and cultural attractions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond Hill, Leeds</span> Human settlement in England

Richmond Hill is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The district lies a mile to the east of the city centre between York Road, East End Park and Cross Green. The appropriate City of Leeds ward is Burmantofts and Richmond Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holbeck</span> Inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the only motorway that passes through the area since the end of the M1 moved to Hook Moor near Aberford. Since large parts of Holbeck have been vacated in preparation for the regeneration of the area, the district has in large parts suffered from a population exodus. Holbeck had a population of 5,505 in 2011. The district currently falls within the Beeston and Holbeck ward of Leeds City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds</span> City in West Yorkshire, England

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is governed by a metropolitan borough named after the city, the wider county having devolved powers. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Light, Leeds</span>

The Light is a leisure and retail centre in central Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It occupies the rectangular space between The Headrow on the south, St Anne's Street on the north, Cookridge Street on the west, and Albion Street. Two former streets divide it: Upper Fountaine Street (east-west) and Cross Fountaine Street (north-south) now covered with a glass roof. It incorporates two listed buildings Permanent House and the Headrow Buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in Leeds</span> Road, rail and bus transportation in Leeds, England

Transport within Leeds consists of extensive road, bus and rail networks. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Leeds</span> Retail development in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Victoria Leeds is a shopping district and leisure area in central Leeds, comprising the 1990 Victoria Quarter, an arcaded complex of restored 19th century and contemporary shopping arcades, and the 2016 Victoria Gate development. Notable for its role in the regeneration of Leeds' city centre, and a programme of restoration and reuse which included commissiong the largest work of stained glass work in Europe, designed by artist Brian Clarke, to cover the newly-pedestrianised Queen Victoria Street, the 1990 scheme created a covered retail district of linked arcades. In 2016 ,the Victoria Quarter was merged with the newly built Victoria Gate complex to form the largest premium retail and leisure venue in Northern England. The district includes a casino and major stores such as Harvey Nichols and John Lewis and Partners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham city centre</span> City in the West Midlands, England

Birmingham city centre, also known as Central Birmingham is the central business district of Birmingham, England. Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, the city centre is now defined as being the area within the Middle Ring Road. The city centre is undergoing massive redevelopment with the Big City Plan, which means there are now nine emerging districts and the city centre is approximately five times bigger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Leeds</span> Buildings of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

The architecture of Leeds, a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, encompasses a wide range of architectural styles and notable buildings. As with most northern industrial centres, much of Leeds' prominent architecture is of the Victorian era. However, the City of Leeds also contains buildings from as early as the Middle Ages such as Kirkstall Abbey, one of Britain's best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries, as well as examples of 20th century industrial architecture, particularly in the districts of Hunslet and Holbeck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds Civic Trust</span> Voluntary organisation and registered charity

Leeds Civic Trust is a voluntary organisation and registered charity established in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England in 1965. Affiliated to the national charity Civic Voice, its stated purpose is "to stimulate public interest in and care for the beauty, history, and character of the city and locality, to encourage high standards of design, architecture and town planning; [and] to encourage the development and improvement of features of general public amenity".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Trinity Leeds shopping and leisure complex opens". BBC. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  2. "Trinity Leeds, Leeds | Land Securities Retail Portfolio | Land Securities Retail". Archived from the original on 29 March 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  3. Cameron, W. S. (1934). "Urban Improvement Schemes: I. The Headrow, Leeds". The Town Planning Review. 16 (1): 25–30. doi:10.3828/tpr.16.1.238p38r0hq4r2u47. ISSN   0041-0020. JSTOR   40101126.
  4. "Vision for new hotel and restaurant in Leeds's booming Arena Quarter". Yorkshire Evening Post.
  5. "Big names sign up to Leeds's Wellington Place development". Yorkshire Evening Post. 6 June 2018.
  6. "Leeds Lights Switch-On 2014". Leeds City Council. 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Timetable | Metro".

Further reading