The centre of the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire is located on the River Aire. The area was awarded city status in 1893 originally and then in 1974 this designation was transferred to the larger metropolitan borough named ‘City of Leeds’. The City of Leeds metropolitan district has a population of over 750,000 and is one of the ten largest cities in the country. With Leeds being in the foothills to the east of the Pennines, the nearby Aire Gap provides a corridor for rail and road that links Leeds with cities to the west of the Pennines.
Regarded by some as one of the fastest growing cities in the UK, Leeds has a diverse economy with the service sector now being dominant where previously the city’s manufacturing industries were in the dominant position. Added to this, Leeds is one of the largest financial centres in England and tertiary industries such as retail, offices, media and call centres have helped to increase the economic rate of growth here since the 1990’s.
Leeds was the first British city to have full digital coverage and broadband during the dot.com bubble and this enabled it in becoming one of the key centres in the new emerging media sector. Many companies who have at one point or another dominated in the British Internet industry began here including Freeserve, Energis and TEAMtalk. Over 100,000 people in Leeds work in financial and business services (the largest number in any city in the UK except London). The strong economy is also boosted by the low unemployment rate here as well.
Retail in Leeds is both extensive and diverse and the wide range of large department stores and smaller retail outlets has been described in guides as ‘the Knightsbridge of the North’ The main area is the Victoria Quarter where several smaller existing arcades have been connected together by roofing over the length of Queen Victoria Street with stained glass. As well as this, other popular shopping locations are Leeds Shopping Plaza, The St Johns Centre, The Merrion Centre, Birstall Retail Park, and The Light.
Tourism in Leeds has been growing for quite a while now, with the Leeds Bradford International Airport being a rapidly growing regional airport, with around 500 weekly flights to over 60 major European destinations. Add to this the excellent location with connections to the M1, M62 and A1(M) and Leeds being geographically very close to the UK’s centre and it is no wonder that Leeds has received various accolades in the tourism field over the last few years. Visitor City of the year by The Good Britain Guide in 2005 being just one of them. Over 20,000 jobs in the tourism industry are supported in Leeds, and the average number of people who visit Leeds overnight annually is around 1.4 million, as well as a further 18 million who visit the region on day trips to visit the many attractions such as the Royal Armouries, and the Henry Moore Institute. This large figure brings in over £730 million to the local economy each year.
