Economy of Leeds
Encyclopedia
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
is diverse, with the service sector now dominating over the traditional manufacturing industries. It is the location of one of the largest financial centres in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
outside London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. New tertiary industries such as retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
, call centre
Call centre
A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing,...
s, office
Office
An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
s and media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
have contributed to a high rate of economic growth. Leeds was voted 'Britain's Best City for Business' by Omis Research in 2003 but dropped to 3rd place behind Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in 2005 ("Relative under-performance over the past two years in transport improvements and cost competitiveness were the major contributing factors"). It is also regarded by some as one of the fastest growing cities in the UK.
Leeds' growth has helped to change the economic geography of the United Kingdom
Economic geography of the United Kingdom
The economic geography of the United Kingdom reflects its high position in the current economic league tables, as well as reflecting its long history as a trading nation and as an imperial power...
, as Leeds is now one of the largest financial centres in Britain outside the capital. New tertiary industries such as retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
, call centre
Call centre
A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing,...
s, office
Office
An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
s and media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
have contributed to a high rate of economic growth since the early 1990s. Leeds was successful in becoming the first British city to have full broadband and digital coverage during the dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
, enabling it to become one of the key hubs in the emerging new media sector. Companies such as Freeserve
Freeserve
Freeserve was a British Internet Service Provider, founded in 1998. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged into the Wanadoo group in 2000, itself a subsidiary of France Telecom...
, Energis, Sportal, TEAMtalk, Contactmusic.com
Contactmusic.com
Contactmusic.com is a Leeds UK based entertainment magazine/webzine. The site was launched in April 2000 by a small team and has now expanded to 12 fulltime staff and many freelance contributors from across the globe...
and Ananova emerged from Leeds to dominate the UK internet industry. Now, over 33% of the UK's internet traffic passes through Leeds, making it one of the most important regional internet centres in the UK.
Over 124,000 people work in financial and business services in Leeds, the largest number of any UK city outside London. The strength of the economy is also indicated by the low unemployment rate. Although Leeds' economy has boomed in recent years, the prosperity has not spread to all parts of the city. Many areas south and east of central Leeds remain deprived, although are slowly starting to benefit from inward investment. Previously deprived areas have benefited from the economic growth such as Chapeltown and Kirkstall
Kirkstall
Kirkstall is a suburb of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. To the west is Bramley, to the east is Headingley and to the north is West Park. Kirkstall is around from the city centre and is close to the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan...
.
Retail
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...
guides as the 'Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
of the North'. The diverse range of shopping facilities, from individual one-off boutiques to large department stores such as Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols, founded in 1813, is an upmarket department store chain. Its original store is in London. Founded in 1813 as a linen shop, it sells many international brands of clothing for women and men, fashion accessories, beauty products, wine and food...
and Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier – commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton , or shortened to LV – is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes,...
outlets, has greatly expanded the Leeds retail base. The Victoria Quarter
Victoria Quarter
The Victoria Quarter is an upmarket shopping area in Leeds, England. It consists of three blocks situated between Briggate and Vicar Lane, comprising the County Arcade, Cross Arcade, Queen Victoria Street and King Edward Street....
, several existing arcades
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
connected together by roofing the entirety of Queen Victoria Street with stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, is located off Briggate, Leeds' main shopping street. Other popular shopping attractions include Leeds Kirkgate Market
Leeds Kirkgate Market
Leeds Kirkgate Market is a market in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England located on Vicar Lane. It is the largest covered market in Europe. There are currently 800 stalls which attract over 100,000 visitors a week.-History:...
, Granary Wharf, Leeds Shopping Plaza
Leeds Shopping Plaza
The Leeds Shopping Plaza is a shopping centre in Leeds, England surrounded by the streets of Bond Street, Albion Street, Boar Lane and Lower Basinghall Street...
, Headrow Shopping Centre, Crown Point Retail Park, The Light
The Light (Leeds)
The Light is a leisure and retail centre in central Leeds, England. It is located along The Headrow. The building was constructed in 1930–31 as Permanent House, the headquarters of the Leeds Permanent Building Society; the society moved to new premises in at Lovell Park in the 1990s...
, The St John's Centre, The Merrion Centre Leeds
Merrion Centre Leeds
The Merrion Centre in Leeds, England is a shopping centre opened in 1964. From construction to the present day the centre has been owned and managed by Town Centre Securities. Originally open air, the centre had since had a roof installed during the 1970s onwards...
, Birstall Retail Park
Birstall Retail Park
Birstall Shopping Park is a shopping park located in Birstall, Batley, West Yorkshire. It contains a wide variety of retailers and includes the region's only IKEA store. Adjacent is another retail park, Junction 27 Retail Park, specialising in bulky goods and electronics...
and the White Rose Centre
White Rose Centre
The White Rose Centre is a shopping centre in the Churwell area of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It spans two floors and is linked to the M621 motorway. It takes its name from the White Rose of York, the traditional symbol of Yorkshire. The Upper Level houses the Centre's 'Upper...
.
In addition, the proposed Eastgate Quarters
Eastgate Quarters
Eastgate Quarters, formerly known as the Harewood and Eastgate Quarters, is a planned €650 million retail development in Leeds, England which is planned to open in 2015. It is a project development by Hammerson....
will enlarge the shopping area significantly, and is due to be anchored by John Lewis and a second Marks and Spencer store for the city. The Trinity Quarter is a large shopping development under construction that is expected to open in 2010. It is a part redevelopment of a run-down part of the city centre
Leeds City Centre
Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...
, and part re-modelling of the existing Leeds Shopping Plaza
Leeds Shopping Plaza
The Leeds Shopping Plaza is a shopping centre in Leeds, England surrounded by the streets of Bond Street, Albion Street, Boar Lane and Lower Basinghall Street...
.
Tourism
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Leeds has received several accolades in the field of tourism; including being voted by Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler is a US magazine published by Condé Nast. It has its origins in a mailing sent out by the Diners Club club beginning in 1953, listing locations that would take the card. It began taking advertising in 1955. In order to attract more advertisers, it became a full-fledged magazine,...
magazine Readers' Awards as the "UK's favourite city" in 2004, "Best English city to visit outside London" in 2005, and also "Visitor city of the year" by The Good Britain Guide in 2005. Situated close to the UK's geographical centre, the city benefits from good transport connections with the M1
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
running from Leeds to London, the M62
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
connecting Leeds with Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and the seaport cities of Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, and the A1(M) for linking to the north. Leeds Bradford International Airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport is located at Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, northwest of Leeds city centre itself...
is a rapidly growing regional UK airport, with an 87 per cent growth in terminal passenger numbers in the last five years. Over 450 weekly flights connect the city to over 70 major European business and holiday destinations.
Tourism in Leeds is estimated to support over 20,000 full time equivalent jobs, and on average Leeds attracts around 1.5 million people annually who stay overnight, plus a further 10 million who visit on day trips. In 2009 Leeds was the 8th most visited city in England by UK visitors and the 13th most visited city by overseas visitors.
Visitors to the city bring nearly £735 million into the local economy each year. Major national and regional attractions include the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds Art Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England is a museum whose collection of 20th century British Art is recognised by the British government as a collection "of national importance". Its collection also includes 19th century and earlier art works. The gallery opened on 3 October 1888 as...
, the Henry Moore Institute
Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the artist in 1977...
and the West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...
. Leeds is also the only city outside London to have both its own opera and ballet companies – Opera North
Opera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
and Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet...
, both internationally renowned.
Throughout the summer high season, Leeds CitySightseeing buses run sightseeing tours, while Leeds City Cruisers operate regular river cruises.
Financial and professional services
Leeds City Region
The Leeds City Region is the area whose economic development is supported by the Leeds City Region Partnership, a sub-regional economic development partnership...
with an output valued at £13 billion per year. Financial
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
and professional services
Professional services
Professional services is an industry of infrequent, technical, or unique functions performed by independent contractors or by consultants whose occupation is the rendering of such services....
are largely based around the traditional business quarter in the city centre, as well as the newer area along the South bank of the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
. Many smaller legal and professional firms occupy the smaller Georgian office buildings around Park Square
Park Square, Leeds
Park Square is a Georgian public square in Leeds, it is one of four notable squares in Leeds city centre, the square is grassed over and is a traditional Georgian park...
, while many bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s and insurance underwriters
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
are set around Park Row and East Parade. First Direct
First Direct
First Direct is a telephone and internet-based retail bank in the United Kingdom, a division of HSBC Bank plc. First Direct has headquarters in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and has 1.16 million customers....
have their headquarters some distance from the main business districts in the industrial Stourton area.
Unlike many comparable Northern cities, Leeds had a mixed economy throughout the latter half of the 20th century and so did not suffer the same industrial decline as other cities. The service sector of the economy flourished in the 2000s, with legal, accounting, consultancy, banking, insurance and recruitment firms moving to the city. In 2002 it was estimated that 38,000 new jobs would be created in Leeds over the next ten years, and most would be in the financial services sector.
Companies with regional or national offices in Leeds, include KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
, Norwich Union
Norwich Union
Norwich Union was the name given to insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It is the biggest life insurance provider in the United Kingdom, and has a strong position in motor insurance...
, First Direct
First Direct
First Direct is a telephone and internet-based retail bank in the United Kingdom, a division of HSBC Bank plc. First Direct has headquarters in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and has 1.16 million customers....
, Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Banking Group plc is a major British financial institution, formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. As at February 2010, HM Treasury held a 41% shareholding through UK Financial Investments Limited . The Group headquarters is located at 25 Gresham Street in London, with...
(Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...
), Lloyds Banking Group (HBOS
HBOS
HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group having been taken over in January 2009...
), Allied Irish Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...
, HSBC
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
, Leeds Building Society
Leeds Building Society
Leeds Building Society was established as the Leeds and Holbeck Building Society in 1875 and is now the 5th largest in the UK and serves approximately 650,000 customers. The society was renamed to Leeds Building Society in September 2005. It has 70 branches across the UK, with 29 located in...
, Alliance and Leicester, Yorkshire Bank
Yorkshire Bank
Yorkshire Bank is a commercial bank in England and Wales, a division of Clydesdale Bank, which in turn is a subsidiary of National Australia Bank. It mostly operates in the North of England, especially in Yorkshire. In 2006 underlying profit rose 16.7 per cent to £454 million compared with a...
, Zurich Financial Services
Zurich Financial Services
Zurich Financial Services AG is a major financial services group based in Zurich, Switzerland.-History:The Company was founded in 1872 as subsidiary of the Schweiz Marine Insurance Company under the name Versicherung Verein...
and Direct Line
Direct Line
Direct Line is part of the RBS Insurance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group that specialises in selling insurance and other financial services over the phone and internet....
. There are further financial institutions within the Leeds City Region with Yorkshire Building Society
Yorkshire Building Society
The Yorkshire Building Society is the second largest building society in the UK, with its headquarters in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Assets now exceed £20 billion....
and Bradford and Bingley offices in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
and further HBOS offices in Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
.
The Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
, who have their headquarters on Threadneedle Street
Threadneedle Street
Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, leading from a junction with Poultry, Cornhill, King William Street and Lombard Street, to Bishopsgate....
in London, have their second offices on King Street in the heart of Leeds' business quarter.
The Financial crisis of 2007–2010 lead to the shedding of jobs within this sector, as banks, both retail
Retail banking
Retail banking is banking in which banking institutions execute transactions directly with consumers, rather than corporations or other banks. Services offered include: savings and transactional accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards, and so forth.-Types of...
and investment. A report produced in December 2008 predicted 28,000 jobs would be lost in Leeds, throughout the course of the recession, with many in the financial sector. The report however also predicted that other boroughs within the Leeds City Region would bear the brunt of job losses more than the city. A report produced in January 2009, stated that there was a possibility that employment in the financial sector in Leeds would not return to its previous levels with fears that 'Companies could be attracted by lower rent in other cities like Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
or Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
when recovery begins'.
Both the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
and Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India...
have established business schools, their presence being supported by businesses in the curt.
Infrastructure
Leeds is situated on the M1
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, the M62
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
and the A1(M) connecting it with cities to the north, south, east and west. Leeds City station is one of Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
s fourteen principal stations and has rail links to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and other major cities. Leeds has no mass transit system, the previously proposed Leeds Supertram
Leeds Supertram
The Leeds Supertram was a proposed light rail/tram system in Leeds and West Yorkshire in England.-Initial proposals:Proposals for the reinstatement of trams or a light rail system in Leeds which were withdrawn in 1959 have been ongoing since the 1970s with various plans for varying light rail...
was axed during the early stages of construction following the escalation of costs, the Leeds Trolleybus
Leeds Trolleybus
A Leeds trolleybus system served the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England between 1911 and 1928, and a very different new system for Leeds, known as the New Generation Transport - NGT project, is currently proposed....
has since been proposed as an alternative, running the same route. Leeds is served by Leeds Bradford International Airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport is located at Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, northwest of Leeds city centre itself...
, with connections to most major European cities. Notably Leeds' lacks an air connection to Heathrow
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
(instead being linked to Gatwick
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
) and Amsterdam. Although a railway line lies close to the airport, only buses connect it with the city centre.
Development
Bridgewater Place
Bridgewater Place, nicknamed The Dalek, is an office and residential skyscraper development in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the tallest building in Yorkshire, and has held this record since being topped out in September 2005...
, known locally as 'The Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
', recently became the tallest building in Leeds. A taller building, the 561 feet (171 m) Lumiere building was planned to be finished by 2012 but building work has been put on hold as of 9 July 2008 owing to the state of the world economy. The plan for even taller 'Kissing Towers' of Criterion Place
Criterion Place
Criterion Place was a proposed skyscraper development in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. In July 2008 it was announced that the project is to be cancelled owing to the property market slump.- Background :...
has been scrapped for similar reasons. Since postponing any further work on Lumiere, the developers have applied to Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
for the development to be revised, making it taller than the current proposals.
GVA
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Leeds at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.| Year | Regional Gross Value Added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 8,713 | 43 | 2,652 | 6,018 |
| 2000 | 11,681 | 32 | 2,771 | 8,878 |
| 2003 | 13,637 | 36 | 3,018 | 10,583 |
Head offices
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
has its head office in the Asda House in Leeds. Jet2.com
Jet2.com
Jet2.com Limited is a British low-cost airline based at Leeds Bradford Airport, England. It operates services from eight UK bases to 54 destinations. The airline also offers contract charter and air cargo services. Its main base and headquarters is at Leeds Bradford Airport, with smaller bases at...
, an airline, has its head office on the grounds of Leeds/Bradford Airport in Yeadon
Yeadon, West Yorkshire
Yeadon is a town within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England. It is home to Leeds Bradford International Airport.-History:...
, City of Leeds. GHD have their headquarters in Bridgewater Place.
GDF Suez Energy UK, a subsidiary of GDF Suez
GDF Suez
GDF Suez S.A. is a French multinational energy company which operates in the fields of electricity generation and distribution, natural gas and renewable energy. The world's largest utility after taking control of Britain's International Power, the company was initially formed by the merger of Gaz...
, has its offices in Leeds.