Leeds

Leeds is the third biggest city in England. It is the financial capital of the North apart from Edinburgh of course). It is beautifully located on the River Aire and is one of the major cities in West Yorkshire. Over the last decade Leeds has undergone quick transformation from a northern industrial city into one of the most vibrant and successful cities in the UK.

Leeds is the UK’s fastest growing city and is the capital of the Yorkshire and Humber region. The local economy of the region is undergoing a rapid development, Leeds fast becoming one of the most successful cities in Europe. This full-fledged development of this city encouraged more and more businesses, visitors and students to enter this town to make this place a platform for them to showcase their talents and ability. People are attracted by the economic success and the quality of life offered by Leeds.

This city is one of the largest retail centres in the UK. Thereby it offers a fantastic scope for an extended variety of shopping excursions. The city centre has an excellent retail mix of major department stores, shopping centre and speciality stores offering a fantastic shopping experience for people of all ages and tastes. With over 1000 shops added to its credit, Leeds is the region’s main shopping area. Leeds has more than 4.3 million square feet of retail space, featuring world class retailers. The Victoria Quarter, Headrow Centre, Corn Exchange, The light and Leeds Shopping Plaza are the prime shopping centres available in Leeds.

The shopping areas are getting extended as part of the shopping oriented infra structural development in the area. Other than shopping experience Leeds offer tremendous scope for enjoying a memorable nightlife with a range of quality restaurants, bars and shopping areas to boost the stay. Tourism is a big business in Leeds providing employment opportunity to more than 20,000 people. On an average Leeds attracts 1.4million tourists per year who stay overnight and further 18.4million who visit on day trips.

Whether you are looking for business or leisure trips Leeds provides an ideal base to cater the needs of all the needs of even the intriguing visitors. The cultural, historical and most modern shopping areas of this region draw visitors from within and also from all over the UK. Leeds has two internationally renowned universities, the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University. The University of Leeds is the number one student destination, which received 52,500 applications for the current academic year.

There are many tourist attractions in Leeds that include the Royal Armouries, West Yorkshire Play house, Harewood House and Henry Moore Sculpture Centre. The Harewood House was selected as the best largest visitor attractions in Scotland and had won the Excellence in England award for tourism in the year 2003.

This town has gained prominence in financial and legal services with over 30 national and international banks having their base in the city and several law firms which now ranked amongst top ten firms in the UK. Leeds gained many recognition and accolades for its achievements in the tourism and business sector, the prominent among them are the ‘UK’s Favourite City’ a readers award by the Conde Nast Traveller magazine; ‘Visitor city of the Year’ by the Good Britain Guide; ‘Britain’s Best City for Business’ by the OMIS research; ‘Best Place in Britain to Live’ a combined survey by the Urban Behaviours survey and Henley Management College; ‘Best UK University Destination’ by the Independent and ‘Number one City for Clubbing’ awarded by Mixmag Music & Dance.

To cater to the needs of both the business and leisure tourists Leeds offer a variety of accommodation facilities. The hotels in Leeds provide all the modern facilities to add more comfort to your stay. The number of hotel and the accommodation facilities has undergone a dramatic change in the recent years with excellent room facilities which suits travellers from different background.

Less aggressive than Manchester, and less chippy than Liverpool, Leeds is a lot of fun with great bars and clubs and a happy go lucky local population who just love having a good time. The industrial base is gone (thank god) and left behind a load of charlie snorting media types.