In early April this year I made a trip to 5 cities: Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and York. I had already visited London twice so I wanted to see something else, in this case some of the largest cities in England. I flew to Luton from Copenhagen and home from Manchester. I travelled with trains and buses between these cities. The weather was exceptionally fine for early UK spring, with mild weather, no rain and sunny more then half of the time.
LEEDS:
Population: 782 000 (metro 2 454 000)
Tallest building: Bridgewater Place (110m, built 2007)
Founded: 1207, city 1893
Ceremonial county: West Yorkshire
Region: Yorkshire
Area: 551.7 km² (urban 487.8 km²)
Year visited: April 2017
http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Leeds.html
Leeds is the 3rd largest city in the UK, and the largest in Yorkshire. It is also the largest financial center in the UK after London. The name Leeds trace back from the 5th century,and in the 1600s, Leeds replaced its neighbour York as the most important city in the region. Leeds used to be an industrial mill town, known for its wool industry, but Leeds has one of the most pleasant city centres, of all cities in the UK. The River Aire flows through the city. It is very beautiful, several nice bridges goes over it, and it is trafficated by water taxis.The city has four universities (University of Leeds and Beckett University are the most important ones), offers high quality shopping and is known for its many beautiful shopping arcades in old Victorian style. There are also many larges shopping malls and markets in the city centre, an area called the Victoria Quarter. Briggate is a beautiful pedestrian street in the heart of Leeds that these arcades are centered around. The beautiful Victorian County Arcade, Cross Arcade and the colourful Queens Arcade are the most famous ones, and Victoria Gate is the ultramodern, and the most expensive.
A large shopping mall with curved glass roofs towards the sky, Trinity Leeds, occupies several blocks in this area. At Briggate you also find Debenhams historic department store building, and restaurants from all over the world. There are several other nice pedestrian streets in this area as well, like Albion Place, Lands Lane and King Eward St. The Pinnacle highrise is a landmark in this area.
Leeds was a market city already in the 16th century. Corn Exchange, a circular Victorian building from 1864 that now is a shopping center, Kirkgate Market (Leeds City Markets), a grand building with 800 stalls in a station like interior are historical market buildings that can be found in the centre. Kirkgate Market is the largest covered market building in Europe. Duncan St, Boar Lane, New Market St and Vicar Lane are some of the most busy streets around these markests.
The Headrow is also one of the main streets, it leads to the Quarry Hill district, where you find the huge 1993 postmodern Quarry House, home to the Department of Health and Department of Work and Pensions.
The historic Central Station is large. In front of the station is the City Square, and behind it the river Aire, where new highrises have been constructed. At City Square you find fountains, the Edward the Black Prince statue and several important buildings, except the station there is the Old Post Office, Queens Hotel, Park Plaza Hotel, Norwich Union Offices, several other statues and the busy road Park Row begins here.
Victoria Square is in the heart of the city centre. This is where you find the huge, classical/baroque Leeds Town Hall from 1858 with its clock tower, the Leeds Art Gallery, the same building that houses Leeds Central Library and the Craft Centre and Design Gallery, Radisson Hotel and flowers and palms. Nearby, along Cookridge St, is the neo-gothic Leeds Cathedral (Catholic Cathedral of St Anne). This is one of two large churches in the city centre; the Leeds Minster, a gothic revival parish church, situated near the river, is the other one. There are also three churches in the university area, one converted into a rock club. Just North of Victoria Square you find Millennium Square with the Leeds City Museum and the white and beautiful baroque church like, twin towered, Leeds Civic Hall, that contains the City Council. At the corner is the Mandela Gardens with its greenery and fountains contributing Nelson Mandela. Park Square is a beautiful, quiet, green square with red brick residential townhouses.
The Calls is a nice area next to River Arie, where you find narrow cobbled lanes, historical redbrick buildings with views of the river and terraces above the river. Calls Lane, Call's Wharf and Calls Landing are part of the area. To the East of the Calls is the new Leeds Docks area (formerly Clarence Docks), where you find the popular Royal Armouries Museum and several recently constructed modern residential buildings. The entertainment venue is quite good, with many pubs and night clubs, many centered around the Calls and Briggate.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal links Leeds with Liverpool. Leeds is partly hilly, with some hills offering nice views, and very British in its appearance.
Skyscrapers and highrises have been built in Leeds recently, mainly in the Granary Wharf area just south of River Aire and the railway station, and in the Northeast end of the city centre, around the University area, where you find both futuristic buildings and old university buildings and churches. The second tallest building, Sky Plaza (or The Plaza, a 36-storey boxy skyscraper from 2009) can be found here, and opposite it is the futuristic First Direct Arena, and some postmodern buildings. Behind the station you find the 30-storey, 110m tall Bridgewater Place (137m to the antenna), the tallest building in Leeds since 2007, that is simply called "the Dalek" building because of its shape, resembling Doctor Who's enemies. Candle House is a red circular landmark highrise nearby.
Woodhouse Moor is a large park Northwest of the city centre. Leeds outskirts are known for its numerous numbers of typical British working class redbrick townhouses. A busy highway goes underneath central Leeds.
Double decked buses are still present (mainly coloured in blue and white mixed with other colours), but Uber and simliar taxi companies have replaced the traditional so called "London taxis".
Leeds is known as the birthplace for goth music, such as Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, that had some of their firts gigs here. It is also known for its football team, Leeds United FC. Leeds is the city where the long run and very popular TV show Emmerdale is recorded. The Emmerdale Studios can be visited, and the Harewood House North, just a few km North of Leeds, is the estate where the village scenes are shot.
I spent one day and a half in Leeds, between Manchester and York. The spring weather was quite pleasant during my visit, with sun almost the whole time. There was a football game scheduled the same holiday I visited, and people in the city were very friendly, it is actually one of the most friendly cities I have been to. In pubs and restaurants they talked very personal to me.
The city has very varied architecture, from beautiful Victorian to ultramodern, lots of people and traffic on the streets, and I liked the fact that it looks typical British but without the dull feeling. Probably the universities, financial and shopping, as well as the music scene has affected the city in a positive way. The Bad Apples is a really nice rock pub near the Calls. I liked the city a lot, my favourite UK city after London and York.
http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Leeds.html