Leeds

**Leeds** is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire in England. It has a population of over 811,000 people that live in the metropolitan borough as of the 2021 United Kingdom census. Leeds has four universities: University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds Trinity University and the University of Law. Leeds is located on the River Aire. The city's football team is Leeds United AFC.

## History

In Roman times, Leeds was called 'Loidis' which means 'People of the flowing river'.

Leeds grew into a large city, mainly during Victorian times, when many factories were built in the city, making cloth as well as other products. Most of these factories have now closed.

With the building of many of the factories and mills in Leeds, many canals and railways were built in the city as well.

Leeds used to have a tram system, but this was removed in 1959. There have been plans to bring it back. Trolleybuses have also been thought of.

Marks and Spencers started with a market stall in Leeds Market, and they now have shops throughout the city, with their largest one being on Briggate.

Much of Leeds was rebuilt in the 1960s and 1970s because the old Victorian buildings were mostly run down and unsuitable for modern use. Many new council houses and flats were built around the city.

In the 1970s, the council used the motto 'Motorway City of the 1970s' to try to promote the city. This is because the Leeds Inner Ring Road is a motorway and the M1 motorway, which starts in London, ended in central Leeds.

## Today

Today Leeds still has many factories and offices for large companies. The City Centre has attracted many shops, offices, pubs, restaurants and bars. Leeds now has some skyscrapers such as Bridgewater Place. Leeds and Manchester are the most important cities for business in the North of England. Many banks have their offices in Leeds.

Many flats have also been built in the city centre. Leeds has some expensive areas to live like Chapel Allerton, Headingley, Kirkstall, Horsforth, Roundhay and Alwoodley, but it also has some cheap places to live where crime is high like Harehills, Chapeltown, Seacroft and Beeston. There have been riots in Harehills and Chapeltown before.

Tetley's Bitter is made at a brewery in Leeds.  This is sold in many pubs and shops in Britain.  Tetley's also used to have many pubs in Yorkshire but have sold many, although Tetley's Bitter is still sold there.

ASDA is Britain's second biggest supermarket. It started in Leeds, and it still has its headquarters in the city.

## Transport

Leeds has a large railway station in the City Centre as well as many smaller ones in suburbs.  It also has an airport called Leeds Bradford International Airport. There are many motorways in and around the city as well.  Leeds has a bus station with 26 stands, and more stands for National Express services going to other cities. However, it is too small to cope with internal buses, so they stop at bus stops along the streets.  Leeds has an outer ring road and an inner ring road. The inner ring road is a motorway.

## Sport

Leeds is famous for its sports, too. It has a Rugby league team called Leeds Rhinos and a Rugby union team called Yorkshire Carnegie. It also has a football team called Leeds United.  Yorkshire Cricket play in Leeds too.  The fourth test of the 2009 Ashes was hosted at the Headingley Stadium in Leeds.

## Council

Leeds City Council are the council for Leeds as well as other nearby towns that are part of the City of Leeds borough such as Wetherby, Otley, Yeadon, Garforth and Rothwell. This is in addition to the City's 32 Parish & Town Councils alongside a significant unparished area.

## Media

The Yorkshire Evening Post is the local newspaper for Leeds and is published every evening.  BBC Yorkshire, ITV Yorkshire and Leeds Television all have their studios in Leeds.  The Yorkshire Television studios are currently in the process of being downsized as ITV looks to reduce costs.

## Areas of Leeds

**See Also**
- Adel
- Alwoodley
- Armley
- Beeston
- Belle Isle
- Black Moor
- Bramley
- Burley
- Chapel Allerton
- Chapeltown
- Churwell
- City Centre
- Colton
- Cookridge
- Crossgates
- Far Headingley
- Gamble Hill
- Gipton
- Gledhow
- Halton
- Harehills
- Hawksworth
- Headingley
- Hunslet
- Hyde Park
- Killingbeck
- Kirkstall
- Knowsthorpe
- Lawnswood
- Leeds Dock
- Little London
- Manston
- Middleton
- Moor Allerton
- Moorside
- Moortown
- New Farnley
- Oakwood
- Osmondthorpe
- Pendas Fields
- Rodley
- Roundhay
- Seacroft
- Sheepscar
- Stourton
- The Calls
- West Park
- Wortley

## Towns and Villages of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough

- Farsley
- Garforth
- Guiseley
- Horsforth
- Morley
- Otley
- Pudsey
- Rothwell
- Wetherby
- Yeadon

## Other websites

- Leeds travel information at Wikivoyage
- Leeds City Council Leeds City (Metropolitan) Council
- Leeds City Guide A Leeds City Guide
- 'Leeds, Live it, Love it'  Official city website, for visitors, business, students and residents
- 'Leeds Television, A vision for the community'  Leeds city TV, for visitors, business, students and residents

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Leeds
- **official name**: City of Leeds
- **other name**: Loidis
- **settlement type**: City and Metropolitan Borough
- **motto**: "Marching On Together"
- **nickname**: Dirty Leeds
- **image skyline**: File:Leeds CBD at night.jpg
- **image alt**: An impressive free-standing stone-built civic building on a sloping site with steps up to a colonnade. Above the parapet is a square clock-tower, also colonnaded, with an elongated lead-covered dome with concave sides and a cupola on top..
- **image caption**: Leeds city centre at night
- **image shield**: Coat of Arms of Leeds City Council.svg
- **blank emblem alt**: A shield, with three white stars on a black background at the top and, below, a suspended fleece on a light-blue background. Above the shield is a helmet with leaves above and behind and a small owl on top. To the left and right are two large owls wearing golden ducal coronets. They are perched on a scroll below the shield which reads "PRO LEGE ET REGE".
- **blank emblem link**: Coat of arms of Leeds
- **image map**: EnglandLeeds.png
- **map alt**: A map of England coloured pink showing the administrative subdivisions of the country. The Leeds metropolitan borough area is coloured red.
- **map caption**: Leeds shown within England
- **map caption1**: The Headrow
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Sovereign state
- **subdivision name**: United Kingdom
- **subdivision type1**: Countries of the United Kingdom, Constituent country
- **subdivision name1**: England
- **subdivision type2**: Regions of England, Region
- **subdivision name2**: Yorkshire and the Humber
- **subdivision type3**: Ceremonial counties of England, Ceremonial county
- **subdivision name3**: West Yorkshire
- **subdivision type4**: Admin HQ
- **subdivision name4**: Leeds city centre
- **government type**: Metropolitan borough, City status in the United Kingdom, City
- **leader title**: Governing body
- **leader name**: Leeds City Council
- **leader title1**: Lord Mayor
- **leader name1**: Cllr James McKenna (Labour Party (UK), L)
- **leader title2**: Leader of the Council
- **leader name2**: Cllr Keith Wakefield (Labour Party (UK), L)
- **leader title3**: Chief Executive
- **leader name3**: Tom Riordan
- **leader title4**: MPs elected in the UK general election, 2010, MPs:
- **leader name4**: Stuart Andrew (Conservative Party (UK), C)

Ed Balls (L)

Hilary Benn (L)

Fabian Hamilton (L)

George Mudie (L)

Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrats, LD)

Rachel Reeves (L)

Alec Shelbrooke (C)
- **established title**: Borough Charter
- **established date**: 1207
- **established title1**: Town Charter
- **established date1**: 1626
- **established title2**: City status
- **established date2**: 1893
- **established title3**: City of Leeds Met. District created
- **established date3**: 1974
- **area total km2**: 551.72
- **area total sq mi**: 213
- **population total**: (List of English districts by population, Ranked )
- **population density km2**: 1380
- **population density sq mi**: 3574
- **population blank2 title**: Ethnicity
<small>(United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census)</small>
- **population blank2**: 85.0% White
7.7% Asian or Asian British
3.5% Black or Black British
2.7% Mixed Race
0.5% Arab
0.6% Other
- **population demonym**: Loiner/[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Leodensian Leodensian]
- **timezone**: Greenwich Mean Time
- **utc offset**: +0
- **timezone dst**: British Summer Time
- **utc offset dst**: +1
- **elevation ft**: 33–1115
- **elevation m**: 10–340
- **postal code type**: Postcode
- **postal code**: LS postcode area, LS,part of WF postcode area, WF and also part of BD postcode area, BD.
- **area code**: 0113 (urban core)

01924 (Wakefield nos)
01937 (Wetherby/ Boston Spa)
01943 (Guiseley/ Otley)
01977 (Pontefract nos)
- **blank name**: ISO 3166-2:GB, ISO 3166-2
- **blank info**: GB-LDS
- **blank1 name**: ONS coding system, ONS code
- **blank1 info**: 00DA (ONS)
E08000035 (GSS)
- **blank2 name**: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS 3
- **blank2 info**: UKE42
- **blank3 name**: British national grid reference system, OS grid reference
- **blank4 name**: European Parliament, Euro. Parlt. Const.
- **blank4 info**: Yorkshire and the Humber (European Parliament constituency), Yorkshire & the Humber
- **website**: [http://www.leeds.gov.uk/ www.leeds.gov.uk]