Leeds - The City of Leeds is a prosperous, booming city in the
county of West Yorkshire, in the North of England. The River Aire
runs through the town. Recent regeneration has seen breathtaking
changes along the riverside, creating a new environment for both
residents and visitors. Leeds is part of a Metropolitan Borough
named the City of Leeds. An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as
a Loiner, though such terms are now rarely
used or understood. However, the mock-classical adjectives
Leodensian and Leodiensian are sometimes used by some local sports
clubs harking back to the old name for the City ’’Leodis’’.
According to the 2001 census the urban area of the city had a
population of 429, 242 while the full City of Leeds had a population
of 716, 513, the boundaries of the City of Leeds however include
places which are separate from the urban area of Leeds itself and
are not generally considered part of the urban city. Recent
population estimates make Leeds the third largest English city.
The city was originally 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. At one point nearly half
of England’s total export passed through Leeds. The city’s
industrial growth was catalysed by the introduction of the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal in 1816 and the railway in 1848.
The vast range of attractions, thriving club scene, and world class
sports and leisure venues make Leeds a brilliant place to live or
visit. The city is alive with vibrant, European-style cafes sitting
comfortably alongside traditional English pubs. Leeds is also the
destination for shopping in the north, with its impressive Victorian
shopping arcades, and all the major high street names. Leeds plays
host to the largest department store in Yorkshire, and the only
Harvey Nichols outside London. Leeds is particularly good for
shopping as the centre is predominantly a pedestrian-only area.
The range of restaurants is superb, with Indian, Chinese, Thai,
Spanish, French, American, Italian and Mexican to choose from, in
addition to the traditional English food served both in the City
Centre and the quaint country pubs on the way to the Yorkshire
Dales.
The City of Leeds continues to regenerate itself with a booming
property market, hundreds of new city centre apartments have added
to the diversity of the housing stock within the city, yet even in
the city centre you are still only a few miles of open countryside,
and living in one of the greenest cities in the country with open
spaces and parkland available to all.