title: Vikram Vedha

text: After the release of "Va" (2010), the husband and wife director duo Pushkar, and Gayathri took a break from filmmaking. They decided to explore other genres during this time as their earlier films, "Oram Po" (2007) and "Va", were comedies. The duo planned to make their next project, which would be titled "Vikram Vedha", with a more serious tone where emotions like anger, hatred, and pain drove the characters' motives. This led to their decision to develop characters whose actions are not entirely good or evil.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: The duo initially considered setting the film either in politics, business or journalism before finally deciding on a police-gangster background. The Indian folktale "Baital Pachisi" inspired the development of the story. The ghost-like being Vetala who posed morally ambiguous questions to King Vikramaditya, each of which could result in more than one answer, attracted them. The film's title and its characterisation of Vikram (Vikramaditya) and Vedha (Vetala) were also derived from the tale.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: In a January 2015 interview with journalist and film critic Sudhish Kamath of "The Hindu", S. Sashikanth, the owner of production house YNOT Studios, confirmed that he would produce the project. Pushkar and Gayathri continued to develop the script throughout 2015, completing it in April 2016. Dhilip Subbarayan and P. S. Vinod were selected to be the stunt choreographer and cinematographer respectively. Richard Kevin also worked as an assistant director in addition to handling the film's editing. Manikandan was selected to write the dialogues after initially auditioning for and then playing the role of Santhanam.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Pushkar and Gayathri met R. Madhavan while working on the post-production phase of Sudha Kongara's "Irudhi Suttru" (2016). It was confirmed in February 2016 that Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi would play the respective roles of an encounter specialist and a gangster. They agreed to do the project as both were intrigued by the idea of a film based on the "Baital Pachisi" tale. In addition to growing a beard for his role, Madhavan did not workout to lose weight. Instead, he followed a strict diet, including not eating anything after 6:00 pm and keeping a gap of five and a half hours after each meal. Sethupathi sported a salt and pepper beard for the role of Vedha.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Kathir was cast in the role of Vedha's brother Pulli because Pushkar and Gayathri were impressed by his performance in "Kirumi" (2015). In October 2016, Shraddha Srinath was cast as Vikram's wife after her performance in "U Turn" (2016) made an impression on Pushkar and Gayathri. This was then officially finalised after her screen test. The same month, John Vijay was signed to play a gangster but later opted out due to scheduling conflicts with the Malayalam film "Comrade in America" (2017).


title: Vikram Vedha

text: "Vikram Vedha" was made on a budget of ₹110 million (about US$1,661,631 in 2017). Principal photography began on 16 November 2016 in Kasimedu, North Chennai with Varalaxmi Sarathkumar joining the team as the second female lead. The first schedule consisted of filming scenes featuring Sethupathi, Kathir and Varalaxmi for five days. The second schedule commenced on 28 November 2016 with additional scenes involving Sethupathi shot at Vyasarpadi.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: On 15 December 2016, Madhavan began shooting for his solo sequences and the portions where he appears alongside Sethupathi in the middle of the second schedule. The climax sequence was filmed over four days at Binny Mills. Production continued throughout December 2016, with Sethupathi finishing his work in early January 2017. Principal photography concluded later that month after sequences featuring Madhavan and Srinath were shot. The entire film was completed over a period of 53 days.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Sandhya Prabhat and Jemma Jose designed the opening animation sequence which Nassar narrated. In an interview with S. Naagarajan of "The New Indian Express", Prabhat said that Pushkar and Gayathri wanted her "to adapt the theme of the ["Baital Pachisi"] for the opening credits". After drafting the initial sketches of the animated characters, the duo then gave Prabhat "a scene-by-scene picturisation" of their perspective of the tale in addition to requesting she make the entire sequence "look aesthetic". Prabhat and Jose designed the sequence to synchronise with the track "Karuppu Vellai".


title: Vikram Vedha

text: According to Jose, the colouring for the sequence was mainly grey, black, and white and shades of red for Vetala's eyes, in keeping with the film's theme. Pushkar and Gayathri wanted Prabhat and Jose to use a "desaturated" palette with "strong and powerful" tones. The sequence was traditionally animated as Prabhat and Jose believed that "complex graphics and multi-layered effects" would distract the audience from understanding the film's main plot. The entire animation sequence, from storyboarding to animation took one and a half months to complete.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: As the film is inspired from "Baital Pachisi", it consists of an animation sequence involving Vikramaditya and Vetala, on which the main characters Vikram and Vedha are formed. Gopi Prasanna, the title designer of the film, shared the film's poster title in Tamil (விக்ரம் வேதா) on Instagram, where the letter வி (Vi) in Vikram is stylized to resemble Vikramaditya's sword, and தா (Dha) in Vedha is stylized to resemble Vetala's tail.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Sam C. S. composed the film's soundtrack and score and wrote the lyrics for the track "Pogatha Yennavittu" while Mohan Rajan, Muthamil and Vignesh Shivan provided the lyrics for the songs "Yaanji", "Tasakku Tasakku" and "Karuppu Vellai" respectively. Sam had worked previously for Pushkar and Gayathri on television commercials. They decided to recruit him after being impressed with his work on "Puriyatha Puthir" (2017). The audio rights are with Think Music.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Before the release of the album on 19 June 2017, the tracks "Tasakku Tasakku" and "Yaanji" were released as singles on 5 June 2017 and 12 June 2017 respectively. Sharanya CR from "The Times of India" noted in her review that Sam "brings out the essence of the film’s plot" with "Karuppu Vellai", and used the term "stylish, yet flawless" to describe Anirudh's and Shakthisree Gopalan's rendition of "Yaanji". She felt "Pogatha Yennavittu" was "an impressive composition" and appreciated the "very peppy" beats in "Tasakku Tasakku", adding that it "can be reserved for parties". Sharanya concluded her review by stating that "the composer hits the high-note" with "Vikram Vedha", writing further that "the film's narrative is sure to up the experience through music" with the instrumental tracks.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: The official Twitter handle of the film was launched on 30 December 2016. The film's official title poster was released on 2 February 2017. The official first look poster of the film was released on 24 February 2017. The teaser trailer was released on 13 March 2017, which features action sequences between Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi. The teaser trailer crossed 10 million views within 24 hours of its release. The official trailer was released by actors Shah Rukh Khan and Sivakarthikeyan, through YouTube on 22 June 2017.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: "Vikram Vedha" was initially given an "A" certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification due to the amount of violence present. The producers, however, successfully approached the censor board again to get a "U/A" certificate so it would have more appeal to family audiences.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: The film was scheduled to release on 7 July 2017, but was postponed due to the strike by the Tamil Film Producers Council over the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in India and the removal of the Local Body Tax imposed by the Government of Tamil Nadu on the council. After the state government reached an agreement with the Producer's Council to set up a committee to look into the issue, screening of films at theatres resumed on 6 July. "Vikram Vedha", along with Hiphop Tamizha's "Meesaya Murukku", was subsequently released worldwide on 21 July 2017. R. Ravindran under his Trident Arts banner distributed the film in Tamil Nadu and released it to 350 screens across the state. ATMUS Entertainment handled distribution in the United States.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: "Vikram Vedha" grossed 170 million worldwide in the first weekend of its theatrical run, earning 100 million in Tamil Nadu alone. By the end of its second weekend, the total box office collections for the film in Tamil Nadu were 250 million. Within two weeks of its release, the film earned 400 million worldwide becoming, at the time of its release, the second-highest grossing Tamil film of the year after "".


title: Vikram Vedha

text: The film also performed well in the United States, earning more than $150,000 in its first three days. It collected $366,000 by the end of the first week. "Vikram Vedha" completed a theatrical run of 100 days on 28 October. As of December 2017, the film has earned 600 million (about US$9,063,444 in 2017) globally.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: The content of the film and its commercial success helped revive the box office prospects of the Tamil film industry, leading to many theatre owners and distributors like Abirami Ramanathan, owner of Abhirami Mega Mall, and K Meenakshisundaram, vice-president of Mayajaal, stating that people would come to watch films with good content irrespective of the Goods and Services Tax.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: "Vikram Vedha" opened to positive critical reviews with praise for all major aspects of the production.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Writing for "The Indian Express", Manoj Kumar R called it "the best film to release in Tamil this year". He felt that though both Madhavan and Sethupathi "have competed with each other" in providing performances that were "intense and convincing", it was Sethupathi who "manages to draw the applause and whistles from the audience for his natural performance". Karthik Kumar of the "Hindustan Times" labelled Madhavan's performance "good" and believed Sethupathi played Vedha with "unmatchable swag", adding he was "unarguably the best thing to have happened to the film". Srivatsan of "India Today" compared the interactions and mind games between Vikram and Vedha favourably to those of Batman and the Joker in "The Dark Knight" (2008); he termed the film a "smartly-written thriller, which has a texture, well-developed character arcs and filmmaking gimmickry".


title: Vikram Vedha

text: M Suganth, in his review for "The Times of India", found Madhavan to be "stylish and serious" and Sethupathi as "all swag". Anupama Subramaniam of the "Deccan Chronicle" said that Sethupathi "oozes of charisma" and Madhavan gave "a whole-hearted" effort while making the audience relate to the character's emotions. Ragesh Gopinathan from "Malayala Manorama" thought the film "a work of sheer brilliance" with "the perfect blend of style and substance". Gopinathan also believed that Srinath, Varalaxmi and Peradi "offer a realistic portrayal of their characters." In his review for "Firstpost", Sreedhar Pillai described the film as "a triumph of smart writing, superb characterisation and terrific performances by the lead actors Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi who make it crackle". He also commended Varalaxmi's performance as Chandra, saying that she "lends the film some warmth" despite being cast in "an insignificant role". Film critic and journalist Baradwaj Rangan noted in his review for Film Companion that Sethupathi was "fantastic" and spoke "crowd-pleasing lines in the most casual fashion". He also found Chandra "the most convincingly written character". A reviewer from Sify pointed out that Madhavan's "subtle" and Sethupathi "inimitable" performances were the "real strength" of the film, adding that Srinath was "brilliant" and Varalaxmi appeared "audacious and innocent" throughout. "The Quint"s Vikram Venkateswaran called Madhavan's performance "flawless" adding that the actor "simply eats up the screen" with his presence. He however criticised Sethupathi, opining that he "has played himself for far too long" saying there is "so much more to him than just the fact that he’s as relatable as a friendly neighbourhood smart alec".


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Suganth noted that all the conversations between the characters, and even the opening sequence, were "carefully assembled puzzle pieces". However, he criticised the convoluted plot structure and the "lack of gravitas", which made the film seem "tiresome" and "laidback". Vishal Menon of "The Hindu" wrote the film was "a terrific exploration of good, evil and everything in between" but felt the second half took "the shape of an investigative thriller" which slowed down the film's pace. Karthik commended Pushkar and Gayathri's writing which "succeeds in piquing the intellect of audiences like no recent Tamil film". The Sify reviewer praised the directors' handling of human emotions, calling the characters' grey shades "a novel aspect". Furthermore, Priyanka Thirumurthy of "The News Minute" wrote that the directors' "intelligent screenplay takes you through a rollercoaster of twists and turns". Likewise, Sudhir Srinivasan, writing for "The New Indian Express" praised Pushkar and Gayathri's "beautifully written, incredibly well-made" contemporary adaptation of the "Baital Pachisi". Mythily Ramachandran, in her review for "Gulf News", believed the "powerful writing" of Puskhar and Gayathri's screenplay, the "well defined" characters and "flawless performances" from the entire cast, were the film's main highlights.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: Several critics found Vinod's past experiences in shooting gangster films such as Thiagarajan Kumararaja's "Aaranya Kaandam" (2011) a contributing factor towards the success of "Vikram Vedha". Pillai and the Sify reviewer found Vinod's cinematography and camera angles helped create the appropriate "tension and mood" and perfectly capture the environment of North Chennai. Rangan compared the cinematography positively to the "light and shadow play" seen in film noir, concluding that "there isn't one uninteresting frame" and the film can be watched for the filming techniques alone.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: At the 65th Filmfare Awards South, "Vikram Vedha" received nominations in seven categories, including Best Film (Sashikanth) and Best Supporting Actress (Varalaxmi), winning four. Madhavan and Sethupathi received nominations in the Best Actor category with the latter winning the award; Madhavan in turn won the Critics Award. The other awards it received were for Best Director (Pushkar–Gayathri) and Best Male Playback Singer (Anirudh for "Yaanji"). The film won four of its fifteen nominations at the 10th Vijay Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay Writer (both received by Pushkar–Gayathri), Best Actor (Sethupathi) and Best Background Score (Sam). The film also won four Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards, three Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two Techofes Awards and an Edison Award.


title: Vikram Vedha

text: In March 2018, Pushkar–Gayathri announced that they would direct the film's Hindi remake, to be produced again by YNOT Studios. The Hindi remake, also titled "Vikram Vedha", was released on 30 September 2022.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by population) in England, after London and Birmingham.


title: Leeds

text: The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It expanded by becoming a major production centre, including of carbonated water where it was invented in the 1760s, and trading centre (mainly with wool) for the 17th and 18th centuries. It was a major mill town during the Industrial Revolution. It was also known for its flax industry, iron foundries, engineering and printing, as well as shopping, with several surviving Victorian era arcades, such as Kirkgate Market. City status was awarded in 1893, a populous urban centre formed in the following century which absorbed surrounding villages and overtook the nearby York population.


title: Leeds

text: It is located about halfway between London and Edinburgh and has multiple motorway links; the M1, M62 and A1(M). The is, alongside Manchester Piccadilly, the busiest of its kind in Northern England. It is the county's largest settlement with a population of 516,298, while the larger City of Leeds district had a population of 812,000 (2021 estimate). The city is part of a built-up area, with 1.7 million it is the fourth-largest built-up area by population the United Kingdom.


title: Leeds

text: The district has multiple parished and unparished areas. The city and towns (including Morley, Pudsey, Horsforth, Rothwell and Farsley) around the city form a cross-district (Calderdale, City of Bradford, City of Wakefield and Kirklees) continuous built-up area that the metropolitan county is based on.


title: Leeds

text: The name derives from the old Brythonic word "Ladenses" meaning "people of the fast-flowing river", in reference to the River Aire that flows through the city. This name originally referred to the forested area covering most of the Brythonic kingdom of Elmet, which existed during the 5th century into the early 7th century.


title: Leeds

text: Bede states in the fourteenth chapter of his "Ecclesiastical History", in a discussion of an altar surviving from a church erected by Edwin of Northumbria, that it is located in "...regione quae vocatur Loidis" (Latin, "the region which is called Loidis"). An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a "Loiner", a word of uncertain origin. The term "Leodensian" is also used, from the city's Latin name.


title: Leeds

text: Before the Industrial Revolution, it became a co-ordination centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth, and white broadcloth was traded at its White Cloth Hall.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds handled one sixth of England's export trade in 1770. Growth, initially in textiles, was accelerated by the creation of the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1699 (with major additional works in the 18th century) and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816. In the late Georgian era, William Lupton was one of a number of central Leeds landowners, some of whom, like him, were also textile manufacturers. At the time of his death in 1828, Lupton occupied the enclosed fields of the manor of Leeds, his estate including a mill, reservoir, substantial house and outbuildings.


title: Leeds

text: Mechanical engineering, initially to supply tools and machinery for the textile sector, rapidly became a diverse industry.


title: Leeds

text: The railway network constructed around Leeds, starting with the Leeds and Selby Railway in 1834, provided improved communications with national markets and, significantly for its development, an east–west connection with Manchester and the ports of Liverpool and Hull giving improved access to international markets. Alongside technological advances and industrial expansion, Leeds retained an interest in trading in agricultural commodities, with the Corn Exchange opening in 1864.


title: Leeds

text: Marshall's Mill was one of the first of many factories constructed in Leeds from around 1790 when the most significant were woollen finishing and flax mills. Manufacturing diversified by 1914 to printing, engineering, chemicals and clothing manufacture. Decline in manufacturing during the 1930s was temporarily reversed by a switch to producing military uniforms and munitions during the Second World War. However, by the 1970s, the clothing industry was in irreversible decline, facing cheap foreign competition. The contemporary economy has been shaped by Leeds City Council's vision of building a '24-hour European city' and 'capital of the north'. The city has developed from the decay of the post-industrial era to become a telephone banking centre, connected to the electronic infrastructure of the modern global economy. There has been growth in the corporate and legal sectors, and increased local affluence has led to an expanding retail sector, including the luxury goods market.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone was launched in April 2012 to promote development in four sites along the A63 East Leeds Link Road.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds was a manor and township in the large ancient parish of "Leeds St Peter", in the Skyrack wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Borough of Leeds was created in 1207, when Maurice Paynel, lord of the manor, granted a charter to a small area of the manor, close to the river crossing, in what is now the city centre. King James I granted the borough to his wife, Anne of Denmark, and in 1612, she ordered a survey of the borough; in 1615 she was petitioned to remove the strict Calvinist preacher Alexander Cooke as vicar of Leeds, but she refused.


title: Leeds

text: The inhabitants petitioned Charles I for a charter of incorporation, which was granted in 1626. The new charter incorporated the entire parish, including all eleven townships, as the Borough of Leeds and withdrew the earlier charter. Improvement commissioners were set up in 1755 for paving, lighting, and cleansing of the main streets, including Briggate and further powers were added in 1790 to improve the water supply.


title: Leeds

text: The borough corporation was reformed under the provisions of Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Leeds Borough Police force was formed in 1836, and Leeds Town Hall was completed by the corporation in 1858. In 1866, Leeds and each of the other townships in the borough became civil parishes. The borough became a county borough in 1889, giving it independence from the newly formed West Riding County Council and it gained city status in 1893. In 1904 the Leeds parish absorbed Beeston, Chapel Allerton, Farnley, Headingley cum Burley and Potternewton from within the borough. In the twentieth century the county borough initiated a series of significant territorial expansions, growing from in 1911 to in 1961. In 1912 the parish and county borough of Leeds absorbed Leeds Rural District, consisting of the parishes of Roundhay and Seacroft; and Shadwell, which had been part of Wetherby Rural District. On 1 April 1925, the parish of Leeds was expanded to cover the whole borough.


title: Leeds

text: The county borough was abolished on 1 April 1974, and its former area was combined with that of the municipal boroughs of Morley and Pudsey; the urban districts of Aireborough, Horsforth, Otley, Garforth and Rothwell; and parts of the rural districts of Tadcaster, Wetherby, and Wharfedale. This area formed a metropolitan district in the county of West Yorkshire. It gained both borough and city status and is known as the City of Leeds. Initially, local government services were provided by Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire County Council. When the county council was abolished in 1986, the city council absorbed its functions, and some powers passed to organisations such as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority. From 1988 two run-down and derelict areas close to the city centre were designated for regeneration and became the responsibility of Leeds Development Corporation, outside the planning remit of the city council. Planning powers were restored to the local authority in 1995 when the development corporation was wound up.


title: Leeds

text: In 1801, 42% of the population of Leeds lived outside the township, in the wider borough. Cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1849 caused the authorities to address the problems of drainage, sanitation, and water supply. Water was pumped from the River Wharfe, but by 1860 it was too heavily polluted to be usable. Following the Leeds Waterworks Act of 1867 three reservoirs were built at Lindley Wood, Swinsty, and Fewston in the Washburn Valley north of Leeds.


title: Leeds

text: Residential growth occurred in Holbeck and Hunslet from 1801 to 1851, but, as these townships became industrialised new areas were favoured for middle class housing. Land south of the river was developed primarily for industry and secondarily for back-to-back workers' dwellings. The Leeds Improvement Act 1866 sought to improve the quality of working class housing by restricting the number of homes that could be built in a single terrace.


title: Leeds

text: Holbeck and Leeds formed a continuous built-up area by 1858, with Hunslet nearly meeting them. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, population growth in Hunslet, Armley, and Wortley outstripped that of Leeds. When pollution became a problem, the wealthier residents left the industrial conurbation to live in Headingley, Potternewton and Chapel Allerton which led to a 50% increase in the population of Headingley and Burley from 1851 to 1861. The middle-class flight from the industrial areas led to development beyond the borough at Roundhay and Adel. The introduction of the electric tramway led to intensification of development in Headingley and Potternewton and expansion outside the borough into Roundhay.


title: Leeds

text: Two private gas supply companies were taken over by the corporation in 1870, and the municipal supply provided street lighting and cheaper gas to homes. From the early 1880s, the Yorkshire House-to-House Electricity Company supplied electricity to Leeds until it was purchased by Leeds Corporation and became a municipal supply.


title: Leeds

text: Slum clearance and rebuilding began in Leeds during the interwar period when over 18,000 houses were built by the council on 24 estates in Cross Gates, Middleton, Gipton, Belle Isle and Halton Moor. The slums of Quarry Hill were replaced by the innovative Quarry Hill flats, which were demolished in 1975. Another 36,000 houses were built by private sector builders, creating suburbs in Gledhow, Moortown, Alwoodley, Roundhay, Colton, Whitkirk, Oakwood, Weetwood, and Adel. After 1949 a further 30,000 sub-standard houses were demolished by the council and replaced by 151 medium-rise and high-rise blocks of council flats in estates at Seacroft, Armley Heights, Tinshill, and Brackenwood.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has seen great expenditure on regenerating the city, attracting in investments and flagship projects, as found in Leeds city centre. Many developments boasting luxurious penthouse apartments have been built close to the city centre.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has a varying extent by context such as the city centre, the built-up sprawl around the centre, administrative boundaries and the travel to work area.


title: Leeds

text: The city centre lies in a narrow section of the Aire Valley at about above sea level. The land use in the central areas of Leeds is overwhelmingly urban. while being less than from the rural Yorkshire Dales National Park.


title: Leeds

text: It is contained within the Leeds Inner Ring Road, formed from parts of the A58 road, A61 road, A64 road, A643 road and the M621 motorway. Briggate, the principal north–south shopping street, is pedestrianised and Queen Victoria Street, a part of the Victoria Quarter, is enclosed under a glass roof. Millennium Square is a significant urban focal point.


title: Leeds

text: Inner and southern areas of Leeds lie on a layer of coal measure sandstones forming the Yorkshire Coalfield. To the north parts are built on older sandstone and gritstones and to the east it extends into the magnesian limestone belt.


title: Leeds

text: Outside Leeds centre, there are a number of suburbs and exurbs within the district. Some of Leeds suburbs include Headingley, Harehills and Hunslet. while exurbs of Leeds include Pudsey, Horsforth and Morley.


title: Leeds

text: Lying in the eastern foothills of the Pennines, there is a significant variation in elevation within the city's built-up area. The district ranges from in the far west on the slopes of Ilkley Moor to about where the rivers Aire and Wharfe cross the eastern boundary. Land rises to in Cookridge, just from the city centre.


title: Leeds

text: It has the second-highest population of any local authority district in the UK (after Birmingham), and the second-greatest area of any English metropolitan district (after Doncaster), extending from east to west, and from north to south. The northern boundary follows the River Wharfe for several miles (several kilometres), but it crosses the river to include the part of Otley which lies north of the river.


title: Leeds

text: The Leeds postcode area covers most of the City of Leeds district and is almost entirely made up of the Leeds post town. Otley, Wetherby, Tadcaster, Pudsey and Ilkley are separate post towns within the postcode area.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has a climate that is oceanic (Köppen: "Cfb"), and influenced by the Pennines. Summers are usually mild, with moderate rainfall, while winters are chilly, cloudy with occasional snow and frost. The nearest official weather recording station is at Bingley, some away at a higher altitude.


title: Leeds

text: July is the warmest month, with a mean temperature of , while the coldest month is January, with a mean temperature of . Temperatures above and below are not very common but can happen occasionally. Temperatures at Leeds Bradford Airport fell to in December 2010 and reached at Leeds city centre in August 2003. The record temperature for Leeds is during the early August 1990 heatwave. It is possible this was exceeded during the heatwave of July 2019 where many other areas broke their all time records. However Leeds weather centre closed in the 2000s.


title: Leeds

text: As is typical for many sprawling cities in areas of varying topography, temperatures can change depending on location. Average July and August daytime highs exceed (a value comparable to South East England) in a small area just to the south east of the city centre, where the elevation declines to under . This is milder than the typical summer temperature at Leeds Bradford airport weather station (shown in the chart below), at an elevation of .


title: Leeds

text: Situated on the eastern side of the Pennines, Leeds is among the driest cities in the United Kingdom, with an annual rainfall of .


title: Leeds

text: Though extreme weather in Leeds is relatively rare, thunderstorms, blizzards, gale-force winds and even tornadoes have struck the city. The last reported tornado occurred on 14 September 2006, causing trees to uproot and signal failures at Leeds City railway station.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is within a green belt region that extends into the wider surrounding counties and is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the settlements in the West Yorkshire conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas, and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building.


title: Leeds

text: Over 60% of the Leeds district is green belt land and it surrounds the settlement, preventing further sprawl towards nearby communities. Larger outlying towns and villages are exempt from the green belt area. However, smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas are 'washed over' by the designation. The green belt was first adopted in 1960, and the size in the borough in 2017 amounted to some .


title: Leeds

text: A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure interests, with rural landscape features, greenfield areas and facilities including Temple Newsam Park and House with golf course, Rothwell Country Park, Middleton Park, Kirkstall Abbey ruins and surrounding park, Bedquilts recreation grounds, Waterloo lake, Roundhay castle and park, and Morwick, Cobble and Elmete Halls.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds forms the main area of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire. This district includes Leeds itself as well as surrounding towns of Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell and Wetherby, Leeds is the central city of the Leeds City Region, a classification for the city region's metropolitan area. The city region has a population of over 3 million, making it the second most populated metropolitan city region in the United Kingdom, behind Greater London.


title: Leeds

text: In January 2011, Leeds was named as one of five "cities to watch" in a report published by Centre for Cities. The report shows that the average resident in Leeds earns £471 per week, seventeenth nationally and 30.9% of Leeds residents had NVQ4+ high-level qualifications, fifteenth nationally. Employment in Leeds was 68.8% in the period June 2012 to June 2013, which was lower than the national average, whilst unemployment was higher than the national average at 9.6% over the same time period. It also shows that Leeds will be the least affected major city by welfare cuts in 2014–2015, with welfare cuts of £125 per capita predicted, compared to £192 in Liverpool and £175 in Glasgow. Leeds is overall less deprived than other large UK cities and average income is above regional averages.


title: Leeds

text: At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, the Leeds urban subdivision occupied an area of and had a population of 443,247; making it the fourth-most populous urban subdivision within England and the fifth largest within the United Kingdom. The population density was , slightly higher than the rest of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. It accounts for 20% of the area and 62% of the population of the City of Leeds. The population of the urban subdivision had a 100 to 93.1 female–male ratio. Of those over 16 years old, 39.4% were single (never married) and 35.4% married for the first time. The urban subdivision's 188,890 households included 35% one-person, 27.9% married couples living together, 8.8% were co-habiting couples, and 5.7% single parents with their children. Leeds is the largest component of the West Yorkshire Urban Area and is counted by Eurostat as part of the Leeds-Bradford larger urban zone. The Leeds travel to work area in 2001 included all of the City of Leeds, a northern strip of the City of Bradford, the eastern part of Kirklees, and a section of southern North Yorkshire; it occupies .


title: Leeds

text: In 2011, the Leeds USD had a population of 474,632 and had an area of with a population density of . It is bounded by, and physically attached to, the other towns of Garforth to the east, Morley to the southwest and Pudsey to the west, all being within the wider borough. 63% of the borough's population of 751,485 live in the USD, while it takes up only 21% of its total area of 552 km2.


title: Leeds

text: In 2011, the Leeds USD (Urban Subdivision) had a total 'White' population of 79.1% with this percentage including people from places such as mainland Europe and Ireland. Leeds is one of many UK cities that has a large amount of countryside within the borough's limits. Others include Sheffield, Bradford and York.


title: Leeds

text: At the time of the 2011 UK Census, the district had a total population of 751,500, representing a 5% growth since the previous census ten years earlier. According to the 2001 UK Census, there were 301,614 households in Leeds; 33.3% were married couples living together, 31.6% were single-person households, 9.0% were co-habiting couples and 9.8% were single parents, following a similar trend to the rest of England. The population density was and for every 100 females, there were 93.5 males.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is a diverse city with over 75 ethnic groups, and with ethnic minorities representing just under 11.6% of the total population. According to figures from the 2011 UK Census, 85.0% of the population was White (81.1% White British, 0.9% White Irish, 0.1% Gypsy or Irish Traveller, 2.9% Other White), 2.7% of mixed race (1.2% White and Black Caribbean, 0.3% White and Black African, 0.7% White and Asian, 0.5% Other Mixed), 7.7% Asian (2.1% Indian, 3.0% Pakistani, 0.6% Bangladeshi, 0.8% Chinese, 1.2% Other Asian), 3.5% Black (2.0% African, 0.9% Caribbean, 0.6% Other Black), 0.5% Arab and 0.6% of other ethnic heritage. Leeds has seen many new different countries of birth as of the UK Census including Zimbabwe, Iran, India and Nigeria all included in the top ten countries of birth in the city. Large Pakistani communities can be seen in wards such as Gipton and Harehills. Chapel Allerton is known for having a large Caribbean community.


title: Leeds

text: The majority of people in Leeds identify themselves as Christian. The proportion of Muslims (3.0% of the population) is average for the country. Leeds has the third-largest community of Jews in the United Kingdom, after those of London and Manchester. The areas of Alwoodley and Moortown contain sizeable Jewish communities. 16.8% of Leeds residents in the 2001 census declared themselves as having "No Religion", which is broadly in line with the figure for the whole of the UK (also 8.1% "religion not stated"). The crime rate in Leeds is well above the national average, like many other English major cities. In July 2006, the think tank Reform calculated rates of crime for different offences and has related this to populations of major urban areas (defined as towns over 100,000 population). Leeds was 11th in this rating (excluding London boroughs, 23rd including London boroughs). Total recorded crime in Leeds fell by 45% between 2002–03 and 2011–12.


title: Leeds

text: The City of Leeds is the local government district covering Leeds, and the local authority is Leeds City Council. The council is composed of 99 councillors, three for each of the district's wards. Elections are held three years out of four, on the first Thursday of May. One third of the councillors are elected, for a four-year term, in each election. The council is currently controlled by Labour. West Yorkshire does not have a county council, so Leeds City Council is the primary provider of local government services for the city. The district is in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England.


title: Leeds

text: Most of the district is an unparished area. In the unparished area, there is no lower tier of government. Outside the unparished area, there are 31 civil parishes, represented by parish councils. These are the lowest tier of local government and absorb some limited functions from Leeds City Council in their areas.


title: Leeds

text: The district is represented by eight MPs, for the constituencies of Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative); Leeds Central (Hilary Benn, Labour); Leeds East (Richard Burgon, Labour); Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton, Labour); Leeds North West (Alex Sobel, Labour); Leeds West (Rachel Reeves, Labour); Morley and Outwood (constituency shared with City of Wakefield) (Andrea Jenkyns, Conservative); and Pudsey (Stuart Andrew, Conservative).


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has the most diverse economy of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of public to private sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities. The city had the third-largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. 24.7% were in public administration, education and health, 23.9% were in banking, finance and insurance and 21.4% were in distribution, hotels and restaurants. It is in the banking, finance and insurance sectors that Leeds differs most from the financial structure of the region and the nation. There are 130,100 jobs in the city centre, accounting for 31% of all jobs in the wider district. In 2007, 47,500 jobs were in finance and business, 42,300 in public services, and 19,500 in retail and distribution. 43% of finance sector jobs in the district are contained in Leeds city centre and 44% of those employed in the city centre live more than nine kilometres () away.


title: Leeds

text: In 2011, the financial and services industry in Leeds was worth £2.1 billion, the fifth-largest in the UK, behind London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. Tertiary industries such as retail, call centres, offices and media have contributed to a high rate of economic growth. The city also hosts the only subsidiary office of the Bank of England in the UK. In 2012 GVA for the city was recorded at £18.8 billion, with the entire Leeds City Region generating a £56 billion economy.


title: Leeds

text: Key sectors include finance, retail, leisure and the visitor economy, construction, manufacturing and the creative and digital industries. It has one of the most diverse economies of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city. It also has the highest ratio of private to public sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities, with 77% of its workforce working in the private sector. Leeds has the third-largest jobs total by local authority area, with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. Leeds is ranked as a "High Sufficiency" level city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Today, Leeds has become the largest legal and financial centre outside London, with the financial and insurance services industry worth £13 billion to the city's economy.


title: Leeds

text: Office developments, also traditionally located in the inner area, have expanded south of the River Aire and total of space. In the period from 1999 to 2008 £2.5bn of property development was undertaken in central Leeds; of which £711m has been offices, £265m retail, £389m leisure and £794m housing.


title: Leeds

text: The city saw several firsts, including the oldest-surviving film in existence, "Roundhay Garden Scene" (1888), and the 1767 invention of soda water.


title: Leeds

text: Major companies based in the city include William Hill, Channel 4, International Personal Finance, Asda, Leeds Building Society and Northern Foods. Capita Group, KPMG, Direct Line, Aviva, Yorkshire Building Society, BT Group, Telefónica Europe (O2 Ltd) and TD Waterhouse all also have a considerable presence in the city. In addition to other national governmental offices, the city is home to a large Department for Work and Pensions office building located in Quarry Hill, notable for its imposing design.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is the UK's third-largest manufacturing centre and 50% of the UK's manufacturing base is within a two-hour drive of Leeds. With around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology. Manufacturing and distribution accounted for £26m of new property development in the period.


title: Leeds

text: There is an established creative industry in the city, particularly in the digital gaming sector. A number of large developers have studios in and around the city, including Activision, developers of the mobile versions of the "Call of Duty" series, and Rockstar Leeds, developers of the "Grand Theft Auto" series. In 2009 Leeds was the first city outside London to host the Eurogamer Expo.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is the largest centre outside London for financial and business services. Over the next ten years, the economy is forecast to grow by 25% with financial and business services set to generate over half of GVA growth over that period with Finance and business services accounting for 38% of total output.


title: Leeds

text: The finance and business service sector account for 38% of total output with more than 30 national and international banks located in the city, including an office of the Bank of England. Leeds is also the UK's third-largest manufacturing centre with around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees; Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city and is worth over £7 billion to the local economy. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has over 30 national and international banks, many of whose northern or regional offices are based in the city. It is the headquarters for First Direct and Yorkshire Bank, and has large Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Santander operations.


title: Leeds

text: The city is also an important centre for equity, venture and risk finance. The venture capital provider, YFM Equity Partners, founded in Leeds, is now the UK's largest provider of risk capital to small and medium-sized enterprises.


title: Leeds

text: There are around 150 law firms operating in Leeds, employing over 6,700 people. According to The UK Legal 500, "Leeds has a sophisticated and highly competitive legal market, second only to London."


title: Leeds

text: Specialist legal expertise to be found in Leeds includes corporate finance, corporate restructuring and insolvency, global project financing, trade and investment, commercial litigation, competition, construction, Private Finance Initiatives and Public Private Partnerships, tax, derivatives, IT, employment, pensions, intellectual property, sport and entertainment.


title: Leeds

text: The establishment of an Administrative Court in Leeds in April 2009 reinforced Leeds's position as one of the UK's key legal centres. The court previously sat only in London.


title: Leeds

text: Tourism is important to the Leeds economy, in 2009 Leeds was the eighth-most visited city in England by UK visitors. and the 13th-most visited city by overseas visitors. Research by VisitEngland reported that the day visitor market to Leeds attracts 24.9 million people each year, worth over £654 million to the local economy. In the 2017 Condé Nast Traveler survey of readers, Leeds rated 6th among The 15 Best Cities in the UK for visitors.


title: Leeds

text: In 2016, Leeds received 27.29 million leisure tourist visits generating over £1.6bn for the city, according to data from a STEAM survey. That was a 15.9% increase in revenue over 2015. A 9.7% increase in visits had been recorded since 2013. The industry supported over 19,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2016.


title: Leeds

text: In Leeds, 108,000 people work in the public sector—24% of the workforce. The largest employers are Leeds City Council, with 33,000 staff, and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, with 14,000 staff.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has become a hub of public-sector health bodies. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, NHS Digital, and Public Health England all have large offices in Leeds. Europe's largest teaching hospital is also based in Leeds, and is home to the Yorkshire Cancer Centre, the largest of its kind in Europe.


title: Leeds

text: Key government departments and organisations in Leeds include the Department for Work and Pensions, with over 3,000 staff, the DHSC, with over 800 staff, HM Revenue and Customs with over 1,200 staff and the British Library with 1,100 staff.


title: Leeds

text: The city centre has a large pedestrian zone. Briggate is the main shopping street where one can find many well-known British High Street stores, including Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser, Debenhams, Topshop, Costa Coffee and Harvey Nichols. Many companies have several stores within Central Leeds and the wider city.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is home to one of the largest indoor markets in Europe, Leeds Kirkgate Market. The district also has various regular local markets in Otley, Pudsey, and Yeadon.


title: Leeds

text: Between 1987 - 1995 Leeds, Kirkgate market was renovated. The changes have maximised the retail provision in the market without compromising the historical features of the building, so much so that the renovated Kirkgate Market Hall structure was promoted from Grade II to Grade I listing status, and was subsequently nominated for a Civic Trust Award.


title: Leeds

text: There is an annual German Christmas Market ("Christkindelmarkt") based in Millennium Square, usually running from early November to mid-late December. The 2020 Christmas Market was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.


title: Leeds

text: The extensive retail area of Leeds is the principal regional shopping centre for the whole of the Yorkshire and the Humber region, offering a spend of £1.93 billion annually in 2013. There are a number of indoor shopping centres in the centre of the city, including the Merrion Centre, St John's Centre, The Core, the Victoria Quarter, The Light, the Corn Exchange, Trinity Leeds, and Victoria Gate. In total there are well over 1,000 retail stores, with a combined floorspace of . in Leeds City Centre.


title: Leeds

text: The Victoria Quarter is notable for its high-end luxury retailers and impressive architecture. 70 stores such as Louis Vuitton, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Diesel and anchor Harvey Nichols are contained within two iron-wrought Victorian arcades, and a new arcade formed by arcading Queen Victoria Street with the largest expanse of stained glass in Britain.


title: Leeds

text: In the Churwell area of Leeds is the White Rose Shopping Centre. Opening in 1997, the centre has over 100 high street stores anchored by Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Primark and Sainsbury's. Some stores have their only Leeds presence here and do not trade in Central Leeds, such as the Disney Store and Build-A-Bear workshop.


title: Leeds

text: On 21 March 2013, a large shopping and leisure complex called Trinity Leeds opened in the city centre. The modern and interactive retail space covers the old Burton Arcades and the former Leeds Shopping Plaza with its main entrance from Briggate.


title: Leeds

text: On 20 October 2016, Victoria Gate shopping centre opened with its flagship store, John Lewis. Three quarters of the stores in Victoria Gate were the first for the retailers outside of London.


title: Leeds

text: Of the 40,000 people who work in retailing in Leeds, three quarters work in the wider district. The Springs, located to the east of the city suburbs, just off junction 46 of the M1.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds displays a variety of natural and built landmarks. Natural landmarks include such diverse sites as the gritstone outcrop of Otley Chevin and the Fairburn Ings RSPB reserve. The city's parks at Roundhay and Temple Newsam have long been owned and maintained by the council for the benefit of ratepayers and among the open spaces in the centre of Leeds are Millennium Square, City Square, Park Square and Victoria Gardens. This last is the site of the central city war memorial: there are 42 other war memorials in the suburbs, towns and villages in the district.


title: Leeds

text: The built environment embraces edifices of civic pride like Morley Town Hall and the trio of buildings in Leeds, Leeds Town Hall, Corn Exchange and Leeds City Museum by the architect Cuthbert Brodrick. The two white buildings on the Leeds skyline are the Parkinson building of Leeds University and the Civic Hall, with golden owls adorning the tops of the latter's twin spires.


title: Leeds

text: Armley Mills, Tower Works, with its campanile-inspired towers, and the Egyptian-style Temple Works hark back to the city's industrial past, while the site and ruins of Kirkstall Abbey display the beauty and grandeur of Cistercian architecture. Notable churches are Leeds Minster (formerly Leeds Parish Church), St George's Church and Leeds Cathedral, in the city centre, and the Church of St John the Baptist, Adel and Bardsey Parish Church in quieter locations. Notable non-conformist chapels include the Salem Chapel, dating back to 1791 and notably the birthplace of Leeds United Football Club in 1919.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is one of only a few UK cities outside of London to have a significant number of high-rise buildings, the tower of Bridgewater Place, also known as "The Dalek", is part of a major office and residential development and was the region's tallest building until Altus House was completed in 2021; it can be seen for miles (kilometres) around. Bridgewater Place has been the subject of debate as its erection in 2007 caused significant wind tunnel effects, channeling strong wind currents across Victoria Road. There have been numerous injuries attributed to the inadequate architecture of this building and Water Lane is frequently closed when high winds are expected. In 2017 Leeds City Council undertook construction work in an attempt to deflect the wind from street level and the building owners of Bridgewater Place agreed to pay to cover the public money being spent. Among other Skyscrapers the 37-storey Sky Plaza to the north of the city centre stands on higher ground so that its is higher than Bridgewater Place and the aforementioned, 38-storey Altus House in Arena Quarter, standing at 380 metres.


title: Leeds

text: Elland Road (football) and Headingley Stadium (cricket and rugby) are well known to sports enthusiasts and the White Rose Centre is a well-known retail outlet.


title: Leeds

text: It is the A62, A63, A64, A65, A647 and A660 roads' starting points. The city is situated on the A58, A61, M1 and M62 - the latter two intersect to its south of Leeds and the A1(M) passes to the east.


title: Leeds

text: The radial M621 takes traffic into central Leeds from the M62 and M1. There is an Inner Ring Road with part motorway status and an Outer Ring Road. Part of the city centre is pedestrianised, and is encircled by the clockwise-only Loop Road. The East Leeds Orbital Route's construction started in summer 2019 with completion due by the end of 2021.


title: Leeds

text: Transport in Leeds is dominated by car usage: in 2018 it was the 9th most congested UK city, costing £1,057 per driver.


title: Leeds

text: Public transport in the Leeds area is coordinated and developed by West Yorkshire Metro, with service information provided by the company and Leeds City Council. There is a coach station for National Express coach services in the city.


title: Leeds

text: The main type of public transport in Leeds are bus services. Leeds City bus station (on Dyer Street) has long-distance bus services to nearby towns and cities and a small number of local area services. The main providers are First Leeds and Arriva Yorkshire, the latter serves routes in the city's south. Harrogate Bus Company provides a service to Harrogate and Ripon. Keighley Bus Company provides a service to Shipley, Bingley and Keighley. The Yorkshire Coastliner service runs from Leeds to Scarborough and Whitby via York and Malton. Stagecoach in Hull provides a service to Hull via Goole. Stagecoach Yorkshire provides services to Barnsley. Also Transdev operates Flyer services to Leeds Bradford Airport.


title: Leeds

text: Air quality in Leeds was declared as "unsafe" by the World Health Organization in May 2019. Neville Street, near Leeds railway station, has been measured as the most polluted outside London. A Clean Air Zone, throughout north Leeds and the city centre, was proposed in 2018. The plan, similar to the London Low Emission Zone, would charge a daily fee for driving "older models of buses, taxis and HGVs" in the zone. The zone was planned to start charging vehicles in January 2020, before being cancelled altogether in October 2020 due to improvements in the city's air quality.


title: Leeds

text: In 2017 Leeds had the third busiest outside of London. From the station at New Station Street, West Yorkshire Metro trains operated by Northern run to Leeds' suburbs, the wider area, national and international connections. It has 17 platforms, the most outside of London. High Speed 2 Phase Two was intended to connect Leeds to London via East Midlands Hub and until this section of route was removed from the project in November 2021.


title: Leeds

text: The borough, governed from Leeds, has 16 railway stations. A parkway station serving Leeds Bradford Airport and two other new stations in the area, planned for within the next 20 years, were announced in 2016.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds and the rest of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area has less extensive public transport coverage than any other UK city region of comparable size, and it is the most populated area in Europe without any form of light rail or underground system.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds Bradford International Airport is located in Yeadon, about to the north-west of the city centre, and has direct flights to 8 UK destinations and 70 international destinations. The airport is the tenth busiest airport outside London, with scheduled services running to London Heathrow, Amsterdam, Dublin and Barcelona. There is also a direct rail service from Leeds to Manchester Airport.


title: Leeds

text: In June 2019, as part of his bid to become Prime Minister, Boris Johnson stated that it was "madness" that Leeds did not have a metro system. In December 2019, during his first Queen's Speech, Johnson promised to "remedy the scandal that Leeds is the largest city in Western Europe without light rail or a metro".


title: Leeds

text: The Leeds Country Way is a waymarked circular walk of through the rural outskirts of the city, never more than from City Square. The Meanwood Valley Trail leads from Woodhouse Moor along Meanwood Beck to Golden Acre Park. The Leeds extension of the Dales Way follows the Meanwood Valley Trail before it branches off to head towards Ilkley and Windermere. Leeds is on the northern section of the Trans Pennine Trail for walkers and cyclists, and the towpath of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is another popular walking and cycling route. The White Rose Way walking trail to Scarborough begins at City Square. In addition, there are many parks and public footpaths in both the urban and rural parts of Leeds, and The Ramblers' Association, YHA and other walking organisations offer sociable walks. The Ramblers' Association publish various booklets of walks in and around Leeds.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has over 16 museums and galleries including 9 that are council-run. Smaller museums in Leeds include Otley Museum; Horsforth Village Museum; ULITA, an Archive of International Textiles; and the museum at Fulneck Moravian Settlement.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds City Museum opened in 2008 at Millennium Square. It is a major museum for the city: showcasing its designated collections of local history; world cultures; natural history; archaeology and fine and decorative arts plus a diverse programme of special exhibitions.


title: Leeds

text: Abbey House Museum is housed in the former gatehouse of Kirkstall Abbey, and includes walk-through Victorian streets and galleries describing the history of the abbey, childhood, and Victorian Leeds.


title: Leeds

text: Armley Mills Industrial Museum is housed in what was once the world's largest woollen mill, and includes industrial machinery and railway locomotives. This museum also shows the first known moving pictures in the world which were taken in the city, by Louis Le Prince, of a "Roundhay Garden Scene" and of "Leeds Bridge" in 1888. These short film clips can be found on YouTube.


title: Leeds

text: The Thackray Museum is a museum of the history of medicine, featuring topics such as Victorian public health, pre-anaesthesia surgery, and safety in childbirth. It is housed in a former workhouse next to St James's Hospital.


title: Leeds

text: The Royal Armouries Museum, the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour, opened in 1996 in a dramatic modern building when this part of the collection was transferred from the Tower of London. It is located a short distance from the city centre at Leeds Dock.


title: Leeds

text: Thwaite Mills Watermill Museum is a fully restored 1820s water-powered mill on the River Aire to the east of the city centre.


title: Leeds

text: Nearby is the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre (formerly housed at the Leeds Museum Resource Centre in Yeadon), the major storage of items not currently on display in museums, and open to the public by appointment.


title: Leeds

text: Further education in Leeds is provided by Elliott Hudson College, Leeds City College (formed by a merger in 2009 and having over 60,000 students), Leeds College of Building, University Technical College (UTC) Leeds, and Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College.


title: Leeds

text: The city is served by five universities, has the UK's fourth-largest student population and the country's fourth-largest urban economy. Institutions providing higher education include:


title: Leeds

text: The University of Leeds has about 31,000 students, of which 21,500 are full-time or sandwich undergraduate degree students, Leeds Beckett University has 25,805 students of which 12,000 are full-time or sandwich undergraduate degree students and 2,100 full-time or sandwich HND students. Leeds Trinity University has just under 3,000 students. The city was voted the Best UK University Destination by a survey in "The Independent" newspaper.


title: Leeds

text: At the time of the 2001 census Leeds had a population of 183,000 young people aged 0–19 of whom 110,000 were attending local authority schools. In 2008 Education Leeds, a non-profit company owned by Leeds City Council, provided for 220 primary schools, 39 secondary schools and 6 special inclusive learning centres. Under the government Building Schools for the Future initiative, Leeds secured £260m to transform 13 secondary schools into high achieving, e-confident, inclusive schools. The first three of these schools at Allerton High School, Pudsey Grammar School and Rodillian School were opened in September 2008. The demand for primary school places in Leeds has recently hit a 15-year peak, with an estimated 10,500 new starters this year. The city's oldest and largest private school is the Grammar School at Leeds, which was legally re-created in 2005 following the merger of Leeds Grammar School, established 1552, and Leeds Girls' High School, established 1876. Other independent schools in Leeds include faith schools serving the Jewish and Muslim communities.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds was one of a number of local authorities to try the three-tier system with first, middle and secondary schools. It reverted to the two-tier system in 1992.


title: Leeds

text: In 2018, Leeds embarked on a five-year cultural investment programme, culminating in a year of cultural celebration in 2023. In 2023 the city will hold an international cultural festival which will harness the energy, creativity and momentum of the bid to be European Capital of Culture 2023, from which Leeds and other candidate UK cities were disqualified following the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds Art Gallery, which opened in 1888, houses the best twentieth century collection outside London and a colourful wall painting for the Victorian staircase by Lothar Götz. The gallery is owned and operated by Leeds City Council and is free to members of the public. Just next door, The Henry Moore Institute hosts a year-round programme of historical, modern and contemporary exhibitions presenting sculpture from across the world.


title: Leeds

text: Located in the art deco headquarters of the former brewery, The Tetley is a centre for contemporary art. The Gallery at 164 is an independent art gallery exhibiting artists, illustrators, photographers and designers working in all types of media.


title: Leeds

text: The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery offers art exhibitions from the University Art Collection and Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery.


title: Leeds

text: Art is taught in Leeds at Leeds College of Art which has alumni including Henry Moore and Damien Hirst.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds city centre has a variety of statues and sculptures on public display. The city also features and ever-growing host of street art and urban murals, including the UK's tallest mural 'Athena Rising'. This mural is part of a city-wide project 'A City Less Grey', initiated by East Street Arts, which won a national award at the Planning Awards 2018.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds West Indian Carnival is Western Europe's oldest West Indian Carnival, and the UK's third-largest after the Notting Hill and Nottingham Carnival. It attracts around 100,000 people over 2 days to the streets of Chapeltown and Harehills. There is a large procession that finishes at Potternewton Park, where there are stalls, entertainment and refreshments. The Leeds Festival, featuring some of the biggest names in rock and indie music, takes place every year in Bramham Park. The Leeds Asian Festival, formerly the Leeds Mela, is held in Roundhay Park. The Otley Folk Festival (patron: Nic Jones), Walking Festival, Carnival and Victorian Christmas Fayre are annual events. Light Night Leeds takes place each October, and many venues in the city are open to the public for Heritage Open Days in September. The Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, established in 1963 by Fanny Waterman and Marion Stein, has been held in the city every three years since 1963 and has launched the careers of many major concert pianists. The Leeds International Concert Season, which includes orchestral and choral concerts in Leeds Town Hall and other events, is the largest local authority music programme in the UK.


title: Leeds

text: The Leeds International Film Festival is the largest film festival in England outside London and shows films from around the world. It incorporates the highly successful "Leeds Young People's Film Festival", which features exciting and innovative films made both for and by children and young people. Garforth is host to the fortnight-long festival The Garforth Arts Festival which has been an annual event since 2005. The Chapel Allerton Arts Festival is a week-long music and arts event starting in 1998 and held the week after August Bank Holiday each year.


title: Leeds

text: The Leeds Festival Fringe is a week long-music festival created in 2010 to showcase local talent in the week prior to Leeds Festival.


title: Leeds

text: Light Night, one of the UK's largest annual arts and light festivals, takes place in the first week of October, turning the entire city into an art installation with light shows, projections, installations and lots more.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds Pride is an annual LGBT+ festival held since 2006 supported by the city council and local business. In 2018 attendance was 40,000 with over 100 floats and benefits the city by over £3.8 million. The city has a sponsorship scheme for its 15 Rainbow Plaques commemorating places and events that are of significance to the LGBT+ community organised through Leeds Civic Trust.


title: Leeds

text: In October 1888 Louis Le Prince filmed moving picture sequences "Roundhay Garden Scene" and a "Leeds Bridge" street scene using his single-lens camera and Eastman's paper film. These were several years before the work of competing inventors such as Auguste and Louis Lumière and Thomas Edison.


title: Leeds

text: Today, Leeds International Film Festival's International Short Film Competition is named after Louis Le Prince. The 2015 documentary film "The First Film", which first aired at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, documents Le Prince's pioneering status.


title: Leeds

text: Wordsworth Donisthorpe who was also from Leeds, filmed the second-oldest-surviving film. It is not known if he and Louis Le Prince ever met but they both had a strong connection to the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Donisthorpe's patent for a camera to capture the moving image pre dated Le Prince's by twelve years.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has a rich film exhibition culture. In addition to the Leeds International Film Festival and Leeds Young Film Festival, the city hosts numerous independent cinemas and pop-up venues for film screenings. The Cottage Road Cinema and Hyde Park Picture House have continuously been showing films since 1912 and 1914, respectively, which ranks them among the oldest still-running cinemas in the UK.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has produced many , including celebrated author and playwright Alan Bennett. J. R. R. Tolkien, author of "The Lord of the Rings", lived and taught in Leeds from 1921 to 1925.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds Central Library, the city's public library is located on Calverley Street, near many of Leeds' other municipal buildings. The Leeds Library in Commercial Street is a private subscription library, and the oldest surviving library of this kind in the UK. The British Library houses a significant portion of its collection just outside Boston Spa, a village within the City of Leeds. The Boston Spa location is home to the library's newspaper archive, which contains over 20 million items. The library also plans to open a facility in Leeds City Centre, potentially in the Grade I listed Temple Works in the South Bank area.


title: Leeds

text: In 2019 and 2020, Leeds hosted the Leeds Lit Fest, a "non-traditional" literature festival, incorporating talks, panels & workshops.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has many large parks and open spaces. Roundhay Park is the largest park in the city and is one of the largest city parks in Europe. The park has more than of parkland, lakes, woodland and gardens which are all owned by Leeds City Council. Other parks in the city include: Beckett Park, Bramley Fall Park, Cross Flatts Park, East End Park, Golden Acre Park, Gotts Park, the gardens and grounds of Harewood House, Horforth Hall Park, Meanwood Park, Middleton Park, Potternewton Park, Pudsey Park, Temple Newsam, Western Flatts Park and Woodhouse Moor. There are many more smaller parks and open spaces scattered around the city, which make up around 21.7% of the city's total area. A 2017 survey ranked Leeds 7th among the ten largest UK cities (by population) for the amount of green space, although published comments on the survey pointed out major inconsistencies in the city boundaries used.


title: Leeds

text: As part of the South Bank regeneration project, plans are in development for Aire Park, a new 3.5 hectare city centre park located close to the former Tetley Brewery site. Planning permission for the first phase to be undertaken by Vastint UK was granted in December 2018.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is home to the refurbished Grand Theatre where the only national opera company outside London, Opera North, is based. The City Varieties Music Hall is one of the UK's few remaining music halls, and famously hosted performances by Charlie Chaplin and Harry Houdini. It was also the venue of the BBC television programme "The Good Old Days". The newest theatre, containing two auditoriums, is the Leeds Playhouse, which had formerly been known as the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Just south of Leeds Bridge once stood The Theatre which hosted Sarah Siddons and Ching Lau Lauro in 1786 and 1834, respectively.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is also home to Phoenix Dance Theatre, who were formed in the Harehills area of the city in 1981, and Northern Ballet Theatre. In autumn 2010 the two companies moved into a purpose-built dance centre which is the largest space for dance outside London. It is also the only space for dance to house a national classical and a national contemporary dance company alongside each another.


title: Leeds

text: The First Direct Arena opened in September 2013. The 13,500-seater stadium is rapidly becoming the city's number one venue for live music, indoor sports and many other events. Concerts are also held at the O2 Academy, Elland Road, which has hosted groups such as Queen and Kaiser Chiefs, among others and at the universities. Roundhay Park in north Leeds has seen some of the world's biggest artists including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Williams.


title: Leeds

text: Popular musical acts originating from Leeds include Soft Cell, Kaiser Chiefs, The Pigeon Detectives, The Wedding Present, The Sunshine Underground, The Sisters of Mercy, Hadouken!, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Pulled Apart by Horses, Gang of Four, Hood, The Rhythm Sisters, Utah Saints, Alt-J and Melanie B of the Spice Girls.


title: Leeds

text: On Valentine's Day 1970, The Who performed and recorded their album "Live at Leeds" at the University of Leeds Refectory. Since its initial reception, "Live at Leeds" has been cited by several music critics as the best live rock recording of all time.


title: Leeds

text: Pink Floyd's popular second single "See Emily Play" was written in Leeds in 1967 after a gig in the old Leeds City College Technology Campus, then known as Kitson College.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is the only city outside of London to have its own repertory theatre, ballet, and opera companies.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has the fourth largest student population in the country (over 200,000), and is therefore one of the UK's hotspots for night-life. There are a large number of pubs, bars, nightclubs and restaurants, as well as a multitude of venues for live music. The full range of music tastes is catered for in Leeds. It includes the original home of the famous club nights Back 2 Basics, Speedqueen and Vague. Morley was the location of techno club The Orbit. Leeds has a number of large 'super-clubs' and there is a selection of independent clubs such as Club Mission and Mint Club, which is consistently ranked as one of the world's best clubs by DJ Magazine. Two other Leeds clubs, The Warehouse and The Garage, featured in the Top 100 Clubs list from 2013. The Garage has since closed.


title: Leeds

text: The F Club was club night that ran in Leeds between 1977 and 1982 and specialised in punk rock and post-punk. It would prove highly influential to the development of the goth subculture, due to it leading to the formation of seminal gothic rock bands like The Sisters of Mercy, The March Violets and Southern Death Cult. The now-defunct club Le Phonographique was located in the Merrion Centre and was the first gothic nightclub in the world.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has a well established LGBT+ nightlife scene, predominantly located in the Freedom Quarter on Lower Briggate. The New Penny is one of the UK's longest running LGBT+ venues, and Leeds oldest gay bar. The Viaduct Showbar holds drag cabaret, live shows and DJs. Other places include The Bridge, Blayds Bar, Tunnel Leeds and Queens Court.


title: Leeds

text: Popular areas for nightlife in Leeds include Call Lane, Briggate and the Arena Quarter. Towards Millennium Square is a growing entertainment district providing for both students and weekend visitors. The square has many bars and restaurants and a large outdoor screen. Millennium Square is a venue for large seasonal events such as a Christmas market, gigs and concerts, and citywide parties. It is adjacent to the Mandela Gardens, which were opened by Nelson Mandela in 2001. A number of public art features, fountains, and greenery can be found here.


title: Leeds

text: Yorkshire has a great history of real ale, but several bars near the railway station are fusing traditional beers with a modern bar. Popular bars such as this include The Hop, The Cross Keys and The Brewery Tap. Leeds also hosts an annual Leeds International Beer Festival, held at Leeds Town Hall every September.


title: Leeds

text: Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd, owned by Johnston Press plc, is based in the city, and produces a daily morning broadsheet, "The Yorkshire Post", and an evening paper, the "Yorkshire Evening Post" (YEP). The YEP has a website which includes a series of community pages which focus on specific areas of the city. The "Wetherby News" covers mainly areas within the north eastern sector of the district, and the "Wharfedale & Airedale Observer", published in Ilkley, covers the north-west, both appearing weekly. The two largest universities both have student newspapers, the weekly "Leeds Student" from the University of Leeds and the monthly "The Met" from Leeds Beckett University. "The Leeds Guide" was a fortnightly listings magazine, which was established in 1997 and ceased publication in 2012. Free publications include the "Leeds Weekly News", produced by Yorkshire Post Newspapers in four geographic versions and distributed to households in the main urban area of the city, and the regional version of "Metro" which is distributed on buses and at railway stations.


title: Leeds

text: Regional television and radio stations have bases in the city: BBC Television and ITV both have regional studios and broadcasting centres in Leeds, in addition to Channel 4 having recently announced that their national HQ will be located in Leeds. ITV Yorkshire, formerly Yorkshire Television, broadcasts from the Leeds Studios on Kirkstall Road. There are a number of independent film production companies, including the not-for-profit cooperative Leeds Animation Workshop, founded in 1978; community video producers Vera Media and several small commercial production companies. BBC Radio Leeds, Pulse 1, Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire, Capital Yorkshire and Heart Yorkshire broadcast from the city. LSRfm.com, is based in Leeds University Union, and regularly hosts outside broadcasts around the city. Many communities within Leeds now have their own local radio stations, such as East Leeds FM and Tempo FM for Wetherby and the surrounding areas.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has a local television station called Leeds TV which is required to broadcast 37 hours a week of first-run local programming. The station had launched in 2014 as "Made in Leeds" which launched across the city in 2014. A privately owned television station: Leeds Television is run by volunteers and supported by professionals in the media industry.


title: Leeds

text: The city has teams representing all the major national sports. Leeds United F.C. is the city's main football club, additional clubs include Guiseley AFC, Farsley Celtic and Garforth Town.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds United was formed in 1919 and plays at the 37,890-capacity Elland Road Stadium in Beeston. The team rejoined the Premier League, following a sixteen-year stint in lower divisions, after they won promotion by winning the EFL Championship in 2019–20.


title: Leeds

text: Guiseley was formed in 1909 and plays at the 4,000 capacity Nethermoor Park Stadium in Guiseley; the team plays in the Northern Premier League. Farsley Celtic was formed in 1908 and plays in the National League North and their stadium is Throstle Nest.


title: Leeds

text: Garforth Town was formed in 1964 and plays in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division; their stadium is Wheatley Park.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds Rhinos are the most successful rugby league team in Leeds. In 2009, they became first club to be Super League champions three seasons running, giving them their fourth Super League title.


title: Leeds

text: They play their home games at the Headingley Rugby Stadium. Hunslet, based at the John Charles Centre for Sport, play in the Co-Operative Championship One. East Leeds and Oulton Raiders play in the National Conference League. Bramley Buffaloes (previously Bramley), and Leeds Akkies were members of the Rugby League Conference.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds Tykes were the foremost rugby union team in Leeds and they previously also played at Headingley. They play in National League 1 having been relegated from RFU Championship at the end of the 2019–20 season. Otley RUFC are a rugby union club based to the north of the city and compete in National League 2 North, whilst Morley RFC, located in Morley currently play in National Division Three North.


title: Leeds

text: Headingley Cricket Stadium is home to Yorkshire County Cricket Club which is the most successful cricket team in England, with 33 County Championship wins (including one shared). Their main rivals are Lancashire.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds City Athletic Club competes in the British Athletics League and UK Women's League as well as the Northern Athletics League.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is home to a number of field hockey clubs that compete in the North Hockey League, Yorkshire Hockey Association League and BUCS leagues. These include Leeds Hockey Club, Leeds Adel Carnegie Hockey Club, the University of Leeds Hockey Club and Leeds Beckett University Hockey Club.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds Hockey Club Men's 1s gained promotion at the end of the 2016–17 season to become Leeds's first hockey team competing in a National League.


title: Leeds

text: The City of Leeds Synchronised Swimming Club train at the John Charles Centre for Sport and are represented by swimmers throughout the whole of the North East. The club was founded in 2008 and only compete in National and International Competition.


title: Leeds

text: The city has a wealth of sports facilities including the Elland Road football stadium, a host stadium during the 1996 European Football Championship; the Headingley Carnegie Stadiums, adjacent stadia world-famous for both cricket and rugby league and the John Charles Centre for Sport with an Olympic-sized pool in its Aquatics Centre and includes a multi-use stadium. Other facilities include the Leeds Wall (climbing) and Yeadon Tarn sailing centre. In 1929 the first Ryder Cup of Golf to be held on British soil was competed for at the Moortown Golf club in Leeds and Wetherby has a National Hunt racecourse. In the period 1928 to 1939 speedway racing was staged in Leeds on a track at the greyhound stadium known as Fullerton Park, adjacent to Elland Road. The track entered a team in the 1931 Northern league.


title: Leeds

text: The 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ took place from the Headrow in Leeds city centre on 5 July 2014.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds is well known for its divers and features some of the best diving facilities in the UK. "City of Leeds Diving Club", who train at the John Charles Centre for Sport, has trained many athletes who have competed at international and Olympic level, with Jack Laugher and Chris Mears making history by becoming the first ever divers from Great Britain to win an Olympic gold medal, a feat they accomplished at the 2016 Rio Olympics.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds has an ice hockey team, the Leeds Chiefs; they play at the Planet Ice Arena in Beeston, Leeds in the National Ice Hockey League.


title: Leeds

text: The majority of people in Leeds identify themselves as Christian. Leeds does not have a Church of England Cathedral: it is in the Anglican Diocese of Leeds (formerly in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds), headed by the Bishop of Leeds, which has cathedrals in Bradford, Ripon and Wakefield although the Bishop's residence has been in Leeds since 2008. The most important Anglican church is Leeds Minster, although St. George's has the largest congregation by far. Leeds has a Roman Catholic Cathedral, the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds. Many other Christian denominations and new religious movements are established in Leeds, including Assemblies of God, Baptist, Christian Scientist, Latter-day Saints ("LDS" or "Mormon"), Community of Christ, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus Army, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Nazarene, Newfrontiers, Pentecostal, Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventist, Society of Friends ("Quakers"), Unitarian, United Reformed, Vineyard, an ecumenical Chinese church, Winners' Chapel and several independent churches.


title: Leeds

text: The proportion of Muslims in Leeds is slightly above average for the country (5.4% as of 2011). Mosques can be found throughout the city, serving Muslim communities in Chapeltown, Harehills, Hyde Park and parts of Beeston. The largest mosque is Leeds Grand Mosque in Hyde Park.


title: Leeds

text: The Sikh community is represented by gurdwaras (temples) spread across the city, the largest being in Chapeltown. There is also a colourful religious annual procession, called the Nagar Kirtan, into Millennium Square in the city centre on 13–14 April to celebrate Vaisakhi—the Sikh New Year and the birth of the religion. It is estimated that around 3,000 Sikhs in Leeds take part in this annual event.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds's Jewish community is the third-largest in the United Kingdom, after London and Greater Manchester. The areas of Alwoodley and Moortown contain sizeable Jewish populations. There are eight active synagogues in Leeds.


title: Leeds

text: The Hindu community in Leeds has a temple (mandir) at Hyde Park. The temple has all the major Hindu deities and is dedicated to the Lord Mahavira of the Jains.


title: Leeds

text: Various Buddhist traditions are represented in Leeds, including: Soka Gakkai, Theravada, Tibetan, Triratna Buddhist Community and Zen. The Buddhist community (sangha) comes together to celebrate the major festival of Wesak in May.


title: Leeds

text: Water supply and sewerage services in Leeds are provided by Yorkshire Water, part of the Kelda Group. Prior to 1973 water and sewerage services had been provided by the Leeds Corporation. Leeds City Council has a target of 11MW of renewable energy from onshore wind by 2010 and an aspirational target of 75MW by 2020. There are currently no operational wind farms in Leeds, but a planning application by Banks Renewables Ltd for five turbines at Hook Moor near Micklefield was approved in 2011.


title: Leeds

text: The area is policed by the West Yorkshire Police. The force has five policing districts covering the West Yorkshire area, one of which covers Leeds. The Leeds District Headquarters is located at Elland Road in the south of the city. In the north-west of the city the main stations are Weetwood and Woodhouse Lane; in the north-east, the main stations are Stainbeck near Chapel Allerton and Killingbeck; in the south the main stations are Leeds Central, located on Park Street in the city centre, and the District Headquarters itself. Fire and rescue services are provided by the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. The fire stations in Leeds are: Cookridge, Gipton, Hunslet, Stanks, Moortown, Stanningley and the "Leeds" fire station (near the city centre, on Kirkstall Road).


title: Leeds

text: NHS health services are provided by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds Primary Care Trust and Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides mental health services. Leeds General Infirmary ("LGI") is a listed building with more recent additions and is in the city centre. St James's University Hospital, known locally as "Jimmy's",<ref name="St James' Hospital/">In the background section of page, additional text.</ref> is to the north east of the city centre and is the largest teaching hospital in Europe. Other NHS hospitals are Chapel Allerton Hospital, Seacroft Hospital, Wharfedale Hospital in Otley, and Leeds Dental Institute. The new NHS Leeds Website provides information on NHS services in Leeds.


title: Leeds

text: West Yorkshire Joint Services provides analytical, archaeological, archives, ecology, materials testing and trading standards services in Leeds and the other four districts of West Yorkshire. It was created following the abolition of the county council in 1986 and expanded in 1997, and is funded by the five district councils, pro rata to their population. The Leeds site of the archives service is in the former public library at Sheepscar, Leeds.


title: Leeds

text: Leeds City Council is responsible for over 50 public libraries across the whole city, including 5 mobile libraries. The main Central Library is located on the Headrow in the city centre.


title: Leeds

text: The following people, military units and organisations and groups have received the Freedom of the City of Leeds.


title: Albanian language

text: Albanian (endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. With about 7.5 million speakers, it comprises an independent branch within the Indo-European languages and is not closely related to any other modern Indo-European language.


title: Albanian language

text: Albanian was first attested in the 15th century and it is a descendant of one of the Paleo-Balkan languages of antiquity. For geographical and historical reasons, some modern historians and linguists believe that the Albanian language may have descended from a southern Illyrian dialect spoken in much the same region in classical times. Alternative hypotheses hold that Albanian may have descended from Dardanian, Thracian or Daco-Moesian, other ancient languages spoken farther east than Illyrian.


title: Albanian language

text: The two main Albanian dialect groups (or varieties), Gheg and Tosk, are primarily distinguished by phonological differences and are mutually intelligible in their standard varieties, with Gheg spoken to the north and Tosk spoken to the south of the Shkumbin river. Their characteristics in the treatment of both native words and loanwords provide evidence that the split into the northern and the southern dialects occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD), and most likely not later than the 5th–6th centuries AD, hence possibly occupying roughly their present area divided by the Shkumbin river since the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period, straddling the Jireček Line.


title: Albanian language

text: Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in Greece (the Arvanites and some communities in Epirus, Western Macedonia and Western Thrace), Croatia (the Arbanasi), Italy (the Arbëreshë) as well as in Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. Two varieties of the Tosk dialect, Arvanitika in Greece and Arbëresh in southern Italy, have preserved archaic elements of the language. Ethnic Albanians constitute a large diaspora, with many having long assimilated in different cultures and communities. Consequently, Albanian-speakers do not correspond to the total ethnic Albanian population, as many ethnic Albanians may identify as Albanian but are unable to speak the language.


title: Albanian language

text: Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on Tosk. It is the official language of Albania and Kosovo, a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as a minority language of Italy, Croatia, Romania and Serbia.


title: Albanian language

text: The language is spoken by approximately 6 million people in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, due to old communities in Italy and the large Albanian diaspora, the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in Southern Europe and numbers approximately 7.5 million.


title: Albanian language

text: The Albanian language is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and co-official in North Macedonia and Montenegro. Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia, Italy, Romania and in Serbia. Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece, specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece. It is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece.


title: Albanian language

text: Albanian is the third most common mother tongue among foreign residents in Italy. This is due to a substantial Albanian immigration to Italy. Italy has a historical Albanian minority of about 500,000, scattered across southern Italy, known as Arbëreshë. Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria. These are mainly immigrants from Kosovo who migrated during the 1990s. In Switzerland, the Albanian language is the sixth most spoken language with 176,293 native speakers.


title: Albanian language

text: There are large numbers of Albanian speakers in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Canada. Some of the first ethnic Albanians to arrive in the United States were the Arbëreshë. The Arbëreshë have a strong sense of identity and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of Tosk Albanian called Arbëresh.


title: Albanian language

text: In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 250,000 Albanian speakers. It is primarily spoken on the East Coast of the United States, in cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as in parts of the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and Connecticut.


title: Albanian language

text: Approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in Turkey, with more than 500,000 recognising their ancestry, language and culture. There are other estimates, however, that place the number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million. However, the vast majority of this population is assimilated and no longer possesses fluency in the Albanian language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in Istanbul to this day.


title: Albanian language

text: In Egypt, there are around 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of the Janissary of Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Albanian who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. In addition to the dynasty that he established, a large part of the former Egyptian and Sudanese aristocracy was of Albanian origin. In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world.


title: Albanian language

text: The Albanian language has two distinct dialects, Tosk which is spoken in the south, and Gheg spoken in the north. Standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect. The Shkumbin River is the rough dividing line between the two dialects.


title: Albanian language

text: Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg and Southern Gheg. It is primarily spoken in northern Albania, Kosovo, and throughout Montenegro and northwestern North Macedonia. One fairly divergent dialect is the Upper Reka dialect, which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia, the Arbanasi dialect.


title: Albanian language

text: Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects, including Northern Tosk (the most numerous in speakers), Labërisht, Cham, Arvanitika, and Arbëresh. Tosk is spoken in southern Albania, southwestern North Macedonia and northern and southern Greece. Cham Albanian is spoken in North-western Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by the Arvanites in southern Greece. In addition, Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë people, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily and Calabria. These settlements originated from the (Arvanites) communities probably of Peloponnese known as Morea in the Middle Ages. Among them the Arvanites call themselves Arbëror and sometime Arbëresh. The Arbëresh dialect is closely related to the Arvanites dialect with more Italian vocabulary absorbed during different periods of time.


title: Albanian language

text: The Albanian language has been written using many alphabets since the earliest records from the 15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to the cultural orientation and knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian writers. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the Latin script. Both dialects had also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic script, Cyrillic, and some local alphabets (Elbasan, Vithkuqi, Todhri, Veso Bey, Jan Vellara and others, see original Albanian alphabets). More specifically, the writers from northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750–1850 period. These attempts intensified after the League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (present day Bitola), which decided on which alphabet to use, and what the standardised spelling would be for standard Albanian. This is how the literary language remains. The alphabet is the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters <ë>, <ç>, and ten digraphs: "dh", "th", "xh", "gj", "nj", "ng", "ll", "rr", "zh" and "sh".


title: Albanian language

text: The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 were an age of astounding orthographic diversity in Albania. In this period, the Albanian language was put to writing in at least ten different alphabets – most certainly a record for European languages. ... the diverse forms in which this old Balkan language was recorded, from the earliest documents to the beginning of the twentieth century ... consist of adaptations of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets and (what is even more interesting) a number of locally invented writing systems. Most of the latter alphabets have now been forgotten and are unknown, even to the Albanians themselves.


title: Albanian language

text: Albanian constitutes one of the eleven major branches of the Indo-European language family, within which it occupies an independent position. In 1854, Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language by the philologist Franz Bopp. Albanian was formerly compared by a few Indo-European linguists with Germanic and Balto-Slavic, all of which share a number of isoglosses with Albanian. Other linguists linked the Albanian language with Latin, Greek and Armenian, while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European. In current scholarship there is evidence that Albanian is closely related to Greek and Armenian, while the fact that it is a satem language is less significant.