79 Facts About Leeds

Leeds is a city in the county of West Yorkshire, England.

Leeds was a small manorial borough in the 13th century, becoming a major centre for the production and trading of wool in the 17th and 18th centuries, then a major mill town during the Industrial Revolution; wool was still the dominant industry, but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing, and other industries were important.

From being a market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century, Leeds expanded and overtook nearby York in importance, absorbing surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the 20th century, having attained City status in 1893.

Leeds is well known for being the location where carbonated water was invented in the 1760s.

Today, Leeds is known for its many shopping arcades, such as Kirkgate Market.

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An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner, a word of uncertain origin.

Leeds developed as a market town in the Middle Ages as part of the local agricultural economy.

Leeds handled one sixth of England's export trade in 1770.

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.

Leeds was a manor and township in the large ancient parish of Leeds St Peter, in the Skyrack wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The Borough of Leeds was created in 1207, when Maurice Paynel, lord of the manor, granted a charter to a small area of the manor, close to the river crossing, in what is the city centre.

In 1912 the parish and county borough of Leeds absorbed Leeds Rural District, consisting of the parishes of Roundhay and Seacroft; and Shadwell, which had been part of Wetherby Rural District.

The Leeds Improvement Act 1866 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.

Leeds has seen great expenditure on regenerating the city, attracting in investments and flagship projects, as found in Leeds city centre.

Leeds is much more a generalised concept place name in inverted commas, it is the city, but it is the commuter villages and the region as well.

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.

Leeds has a climate that is oceanic, and influenced by the Pennines.

Leeds is within a green belt region that extends into the wider surrounding counties and is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the settlements in the West Yorkshire conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside.

In January 2011, Leeds was named as one of five "cities to watch" in a report published by Centre for Cities.

Leeds is overall less deprived than other large UK cities and average income is above regional averages.

Leeds is the largest component of the West Yorkshire Urban Area and is counted by Eurostat as part of the Leeds-Bradford larger urban zone.

Leeds is one of many UK cities that has a large amount of countryside within the borough's limits.

Leeds is a diverse city with over 75 ethnic groups, and with ethnic minorities representing just under 11.

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Leeds has seen many new different countries of birth as of the UK Census including Zimbabwe, Iran, India and Nigeria all included in the top ten countries of birth in the city.

Leeds has the third-largest community of Jews in the United Kingdom, after those of London and Manchester.

The crime rate in Leeds is well above the national average, like many other English major cities.

Leeds has the most diverse economy of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of public to private sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities.

Leeds is ranked as a "High Sufficiency" level city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

In 2009 Leeds was the first city outside London to host the Eurogamer Expo.

Leeds is the largest centre outside London for financial and business services.

Leeds has over 30 national and international banks, many of whose northern or regional offices are based in the city.

The venture capital provider, YFM Equity Partners, founded in Leeds, is the UK's largest provider of risk capital to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Specialist legal expertise to be found in Leeds includes corporate finance, corporate restructuring and insolvency, global project financing, trade and investment, commercial litigation, competition, construction, Private Finance Initiatives and Public Private Partnerships, tax, derivatives, IT, employment, pensions, intellectual property, sport and entertainment.

Europe's largest teaching hospital is based in Leeds, and is home to the Yorkshire Cancer Centre, the largest of its kind in Europe.

Leeds is home to one of the largest indoor markets in Europe, Leeds Kirkgate Market.

The city's parks at Roundhay and Temple Newsam have long been owned and maintained by the council for the benefit of ratepayers and among the open spaces in the centre of Leeds are Millennium Square, City Square, Park Square and Victoria Gardens.

Leeds is one of only a few UK cities outside of London to have a significant number of high-rise buildings, the 112-metre tower of Bridgewater Place, 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 around.

Public transport in the Leeds area is coordinated and developed by West Yorkshire Metro, with service information provided by the company and Leeds City Council.

Air quality in Leeds was declared as "unsafe" by the World Health Organization in May 2019.

In 2017 Leeds had the third busiest railway station outside of London.

In December 2019, during 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".

Leeds Country Way is a waymarked circular walk of 62 miles through the rural outskirts of the city, never more than 7 miles from City Square.

Leeds is on the northern section of the Trans Pennine Trail for walkers and cyclists, and the towpath of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is another popular walking and cycling route.

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Leeds has over 16 museums and galleries including 9 that are council-run.

Smaller museums in Leeds include Otley Museum; Horsforth Village Museum; ULITA, an Archive of International Textiles; and the museum at Fulneck Moravian Settlement.

Under the government Building Schools for the Future initiative, Leeds secured £260m to transform 13 secondary schools into high achieving, e-confident, inclusive schools.

Leeds was one of a number of local authorities to try the three-tier system with first, middle and secondary schools.

In 2018, Leeds embarked on a five-year cultural investment programme, culminating in a year of cultural celebration in 2023.

The Leeds Festival, featuring some of the biggest names in rock and indie music, takes place every year in Bramham Park.

The Leeds Festival Fringe is a week long-music festival created in 2010 to showcase local talent in the week prior to Leeds Festival.

Leeds Pride is an annual LGBT+ festival held since 2006 supported by the city council and local business.

Leeds has produced many writers of note, including celebrated author and playwright Alan Bennett.

The Leeds Library in Commercial Street is a private subscription library, and the oldest surviving library of this kind in the UK.

Leeds is home to the refurbished Grand Theatre where the only national opera company outside London, Opera North, is based.

Leeds is home to Phoenix Dance Theatre, who were formed in the Harehills area of the city in 1981, and Northern Ballet Theatre.

Roundhay Park in north Leeds has seen some of the world's biggest artists including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Williams.

Since its initial reception, Live at Leeds has been cited by several music critics as the best live rock recording of all time.

Leeds is the only city outside of London to have its own repertory theatre, ballet, and opera companies.

Leeds is Purple Flag accredited to indicate an entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night.

Leeds has the fourth largest student population in the country, and is therefore one of the UK's hotspots for night-life.

Leeds has a number of large 'super-clubs' and there is a selection of independent clubs such as Club Mission and Mint Club, which is consistently ranked as one of the world's best clubs by DJ Magazine.

Leeds has a well established LGBT+ nightlife scene, predominantly located in the Freedom Quarter on Lower Briggate.

The Leeds Guide was a fortnightly listings magazine, which was established in 1997 and ceased publication in 2012.

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Many communities within Leeds now have their own local radio stations, such as East Leeds FM and Tempo FM for Wetherby and the surrounding areas.

Leeds has a local television station called Leeds TV which is required to broadcast 37 hours a week of first-run local programming.

Leeds United F C is the city's main football club, additional clubs include Guiseley AFC, Farsley Celtic and Garforth Town.

Leeds Rhinos are the most successful rugby league team in Leeds.

Bramley Buffaloes, and Leeds Akkies were members of the Rugby League Conference.

Leeds Tykes were the foremost rugby union team in Leeds and they previously played at Headingley.

Leeds is home to a number of field hockey clubs that compete in the North Hockey League, Yorkshire Hockey Association League and BUCS leagues.

Leeds is well known for its divers and features some of the best diving facilities in the UK.

Leeds has a Roman Catholic Cathedral, the episcopal 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, Latter-day Saints, Community of Christ, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus Army, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Nazarene, Newfrontiers, Pentecostal, Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventist, Society of Friends, Unitarian, United Reformed, Vineyard, an ecumenical Chinese church, Winners' Chapel and several independent churches.

Various Buddhist traditions are represented in Leeds, including: Soka Gakkai, Theravada, Tibetan, Triratna Buddhist Community and Zen.

Water supply and sewerage services in Leeds are provided by Yorkshire Water, part of the Kelda Group.

The fire stations in Leeds are: Cookridge, Gipton, Hunslet, Stanks, Moortown, Stanningley and the "Leeds" fire station .

Leeds General Infirmary is a listed building with more recent additions and is in the city centre.