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.