Leeds, urban area (from 2011 built-up area), city, and metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, northern England. It lies along the River Aire about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Manchester. The coal and iron ore deposits in the locality, a plentiful supply of soft water from the Aire’s tributaries, and the city’s excellent transportation links through the Pennines helped make it the industrial capital of Yorkshire. It is the largest city in Yorkshire and one of Britain’s major cultural centres.
Leeds originated as an Anglo-Saxon township on the north bank of the Aire. It grew as a local market centre and was incorporated in 1626. By then the town was a cloth-finishing centre for a wide area where domestic weaving, introduced by 14th-century Flemish weavers, was pursued. By the 16th century Leeds was able to challenge the supremacy of York and Beverley in the woolen-manufacturing trade. With the Industrial Revolution and development of the local coalfield, the woolen industry was surpassed in importance by engineering, and for a time pottery and linen manufacture were also important. The completion in 1816 of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal also stimulated Leeds’s growth, and after 1848 the railway made the city a major centre of locomotive engineering. The end of that century saw a great expansion of the factory production of ready-made clothing, drawing labour from an influx of Jewish immigrants into the city.
In the modern city, factories are largely concentrated in the southern and eastern areas, where engineering and electronics, printing and publishing, food processing, chemicals, and furniture are especially noteworthy among a great diversity of industries. Leeds is also an important regional centre for insurance and financial services and is the major shopping and commercial centre for West Yorkshire.
The city is home to a number of historic buildings. The Leeds Corn Exchange (1864), a masterpiece of Victorian architecture, was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick—as was Leeds Town Hall (1858), envisioned as a municipal palace and dedicated by Queen Victoria but now principally a concert and performance venue. Located nearby on Millennium Square is Leeds Civic Hall (1933), which contains the city council chambers, the lord mayor’s office, and a banqueting hall. A newer and larger performance venue, first direct arena, opened in 2013. Another significant 21st-century addition to Leeds’s architectural landscape is the Trinity Leeds shopping centre, which is enclosed by a huge glass roof.
Among the city’s long-established cultural institutions are the Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House, which opened in 1878, and the City Varieties music hall, which was founded above a pub in 1865 and featured performances headlined by Charlie Chaplin, Lillie Langtry, and Harry Houdini, among others. For some 30 years (1953–83), City Varieties also hosted the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television variety show The Good Old Days. The West Yorkshire Playhouse, established in 1990, is home to the Quarry and Courtyard theatres. Museums of note in Leeds include Leeds City Museum, the Thackray Medical Museum, and the Royal Armouries Museum. Leeds has three universities: the University of Leeds (1904), Leeds Metropolitan University (founded as Leeds Polytechnic in 1970, though its origins date to 18th-century institutions; granted university status 1992), and Leeds Trinity University (granted university status in 2012, following its amalgamation in 1980 as Leeds Trinity and All Saints from two institutions founded in 1966).
Leeds has more than 200 parks and open spaces. These include more than 1,500 acres (600 hectares) of woodland, farmland, and parkland designed in the 18th century by noted landscape architect Lancelot (“Capability”) Brown that surround Temple Newsam House, a Tudor-Jacobean mansion . The mansion was built between about 1500 and 1520 and was the birthplace of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Also set on its grounds is Home Farm, which showcases a variety of rare breeds of cattle, sheep, and goats. Roundhay Park, made up of more than 700 acres (300 hectares) of parkland, lakes, woodland, and gardens, also includes Tropical World, which features birds, reptiles, fish, and other animals as well as a large collection of tropical plants. Sporting venues include the Headingly stadium complex, which comprises an internationally famous cricket ground and rugby ground; a football (soccer) ground at Elland Road, home to Leeds United ; and a championship golf course at Moortown.
Besides the historic town and built-up area of Leeds, the city and metropolitan borough include the towns of Morley, Pudsey, Horsforth, Garforth, Kippax, and Rothwell and an area of open countryside, woodlands, and rural villages. The M1 motorway from London to Leeds crosses the M62 motorway connecting Liverpool and Manchester with Kingston upon Hull. Northwest of Leeds, at Yeadon, is Leeds Bradford International Airport.
Leeds’s famous native sons and daughters include clergyman, political theorist, and physical scientist Joseph Priestley; playwright Alan Bennett; novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford; Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Nicola Adams; H.H. Asquith, from Morley, who served as the British prime minister from 1908 to 1916; and John Smeaton, from Austhorpe, the founder of the civil-engineering profession in Britain. Leeds has also been the spawning ground for a number of notable rock groups, including the Gang of Four, the Mekons, the Wedding Present, Chumbawamba, the Kaiser Chiefs, and (by way of Kendal, Cumbria) Wild Beasts.
Area metropolitan borough, 213 square miles (552 square km). Pop. (2001) urban area, 443,247; metropolitan borough, 715,402; (2011) built-up area, 474,632; metropolitan borough, 751,485.