Leeds can lay claim to three champions. Millie Robinson was living there in 1955 when she won the first women’s Tour de France, a race that proved to be a one-off. Beryl Burton, who won two road race world titles (1960 and 1967) and five in the pursuit, was born there. And Lizzie Armitstead-Deignan, 2015 world champion and a dominant force in the Classics between 2013 and 2021, hails from Otley, just to the north of the city. Leeds hosted the Tour’s Grand Départ in 2014, when Marcel Kittel won the sprint that decided the opening stage in Harrogate.
- Main city in the Yorkshire and the Humber region (Great Britain)
- Population: 830,000; 2,162,000 within West Yorkshire; 5,500,000 within the Yorkshire and the Humber region
- leeds.gov.uk
Leeds and cycling
Anyone who thinks that cycling is a recent import to the UK is far from the truth. In women’s cycling, Beryl Burton, a native of Leeds, was in the 1960s and 1970s the equivalent of France’s Jeannie Longo or Dutchwoman Marianne Vos in the decades that followed. World road champion in 1960 and 1967, she also won five world titles in the pursuit and set numerous world records, not to mention her 90 national titles. An unrivalled time-trial specialist, she even went so far as to set a men’s and women’s world record in the 12-hour event in 1967. Married at a very young age to Charlie Burton, an amateur cyclist, she raced both with and against their daughter Denise, who beat her at the 1976 British Championships. The woman whom Jean Bobet had nicknamed ‘The Lady on the Bicycle’, and who remained an amateur throughout her life, died prematurely in 1996 of a cardiac arrest whilst cycling. Her home village of Morley has dedicated a garden and a race to her, the Beryl Burton Trophy.
Another legend of British women’s cycling, Lizzie Deignan, was born and raised in Otley, 18 km from Leeds. A 2015 world road champion and four-time national road champion, her list of achievements also includes the Tour of Flanders, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the Strade Bianche and, above all, Paris–Roubaix, which she became the first woman to win in 2021.
Leeds hosted the Grand Départ of the 2014 Tour de France, with Marcel Kittel winning the stage in Harrogate – the future host city of the World Championships. Mark Cavendish suffered a heavy crash on the finish line that day.
The city has hosted the Tour of Yorkshire on three occasions, most recently in 2019 when Greg Van Avermaet claimed the stage victory, and five editions of the Wincanton Classic between 1992 and 1996.
Leeds and the surrounding area have produced some of the greatest names in the history of British cycling, starting with Brian Robinson, the first British rider to win a Tour de France stage in 1958 in Brest, before repeating the feat the following year in Chalon-sur-Saône. Then there is Barry Hoban, with his eight stage victories in the Tour de France between 1967 and 1975. And today, Tom Pidcock, multiple world champion in cyclo-cross and mountain bike, Olympic mountain bike champion and winner at Alpe d’Huez in the Tour de France in 2022.
Sights
Kirkgate Market
Built: 19th century.
Style: Flemish Art Nouveau.
History: the building’s current façade was unveiled in 1904. A fire ravaged the rear market halls in December 1975; these were rebuilt shortly afterwards, giving them a more modern look and an open-plan layout, although they have not retained the character of the 1904 market hall. At the very back of the site is an open-air market. Nestled between the 1904 market hall and the modern market halls at the rear is the oldest market hall, dating from 1875, which houses both Butchers’ Row and Fish and Game Row. Unlike the others, the 1875 market hall is not an open-air market, but serves as a series of passageways between the 1904 market hall and the more modern market halls built in 1976 and 1981.
Key features: built between 1822 and 1899, Kirkgate Market is now the largest covered market in Europe. It attracts over 100,000 visitors a week.
Distinguishing feature: it was within this market that Marks & Spencer was founded in 1894.
Listing: Grade I listed.
Leeds Town Hall
Construction: mid-19th century.
Style: Neoclassical and Baroque.
History and features: designed as a municipal palace intended to symbolise the power and prosperity of the Victorian city of Leeds and opened by Queen Victoria at a lavish ceremony in 1858, it is one of the largest town halls in the United Kingdom. Standing 225 feet (68.6 m) tall, it was the tallest building in Leeds for 108 years, from 1858 to 1966, when it was surpassed by the Park Plaza Hotel, which stands 26 feet (8 m) taller at 253 feet (77 m). The Baroque clock tower, which is a landmark and symbol of Leeds, was not part of the original design but was added by Brodrick in 1856, as the city councillors wished to give the building an even more imposing appearance.
Notable feature: Leeds Town Hall has served as a model for many municipal buildings across Great Britain and the British Empire, as it is one of the largest and oldest of its kind. A true jewel of the city’s heritage, its history as a court and prison is highlighted during guided tours open to the public. Several regular cultural events use the Town Hall as a venue, such as the Leeds International Piano Competition.
Listing: Grade I listed since 1951.
Victoria Quarter
Construction: 1990 to 2016.
History and features: Victoria Quarter is a network of covered, interconnected retail spaces, forming a high-end shopping district. It was created as part of a regeneration programme involving the restoration of the existing Victorian and Edwardian arcades, as well as the creation of a contemporary arcade through the pedestrianisation and glazing of the adjacent Queen Victoria Street, featuring what was at the time England’s largest work of public art and the world’s largest secular stained-glass window, designed by artist Brian Clarke. Spanning three blocks between Briggate and Vicar Lane, the complex opened as the Victoria Quarter in September 1990. This project is widely cited as an example of successful and context-sensitive urban regeneration.
Listing: Grade II listed.
Leeds Minster
Construction: 19th century.
Style: Neo-Gothic.
History: Leeds Minster stands on the site of the city’s oldest church and is of both architectural and liturgical significance. There is evidence of a church on this site dating back to the 7th century, although the present building is in the Neo-Gothic style, designed by Robert Dennis Chantrell and completed in 1841. It is dedicated to St Peter and was the parish church of Leeds before being granted the honorary title of minster (cathedral) in 2012.
Characteristics: with a cruciform plan, the cathedral is built of cut stone and features slate roofs in a style imitating late 14th-century English Gothic, a transitional period between the Decorated and Perpendicular styles. The church is 180 feet (55 m) long and 86 feet (26 m) wide, and its tower rises to a height of 139 feet (42 m). The chancel and nave each comprise four bays of equal length, featuring cloisters and high side aisles.
Listing: Grade I listed.
Leeds Corn Exchange
Built: 1864.
Style: Italianate.
History: Leeds’ first corn exchange had stood at the northern end of Briggate since 1829. Deemed too small, it was replaced by a new building designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, the architect of Leeds Town Hall, in the Italianate style. Built of stone and adorned with diamond-shaped rustication, the building was completed in 1863. In the late 1980s, the building was converted into a shopping centre. Following a further refurbishment, the Corn Exchange reopened in November 2008 as a retail centre for independent traders.
Features: the oval-shaped building has two semi-circular porches, the entrances to which are flanked by Tuscan columns supporting cornices and features recessed semi-circular windows on both storeys. The design of the dome was inspired by the Halle aux Blés in Paris, a work by François-Joseph Bélanger and François Brunet, completed in 1811.
Listing: Grade I listed.
Harewood House
Date of construction: 18th century.
Style: Palladian.
History: this country house was built between 1751 and 1772 by the Lascelles family, who purchased the estate after making their fortune in the Caribbean as customs officers, through the slave trade and by lending money to white planters. The house was designed by architects John Carr and Robert Adam. Much of the furniture in the house was crafted by Thomas Chippendale in the 18th century. The gardens were designed by landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Charles Barry added a large terrace laid out as a French-style garden in 1844.
Listing: Grade I listed.
Royal Armouries Museum
Opened in 1996, it displays royal arms and armour previously housed at the Tower of London. It is one of the three Royal Armouries museums, alongside the White Tower at the Tower of London (the original museum) and Fort Nelson in Hampshire.
Leeds Art Gallery and Henry Moore Institute
Opened: 1898.
Opened in 1898, the Leeds Art Gallery is one of the leading museums in England dedicated to late 19th- and 20th-century painting. It is flanked by the Henry Moore Institute. Its collection of 20th-century British art was designated in 1997 as a collection of ‘national importance’. Its collection also includes works of art from the 19th century and earlier. It is a Grade II listed building, owned and managed by Leeds City Council, connected to the Leeds Central Library to the west and, to the east via a bridge, to the Henry Moore Institute, with which it shares some sculptures. A sculpture by Henry Moore, Reclining Woman: Elbow (1981), stands in front of the entrance. The entrance hall houses Leeds’s oldest municipal sculpture, a marble statue of Queen Anne dating from 1712.
Listing: Grade II listed.
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (1898-1986) is renowned for his large abstract sculptures in bronze and carved marble. Supported by the British artistic community, Moore played a part in introducing a form of modernism to the United Kingdom, drawing inspiration from the so-called ‘primitive’ styles of ancient civilisations observed at the British Museum. His talent was recognised as early as 1950, the year he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. He was subsequently awarded honorary doctorates by a large number of universities around the world. His works achieved very high prices on the international market after the war. However, Moore lived modestly and the bulk of his fortune was bequeathed to the Henry Moore Foundation, which supports art education and promotion. Most of his sculptures depict a reclining figure, often female, sometimes with a circular opening in the body. Increasingly monumental, increasingly abstract, and sometimes disarticulated, his sculptures were the subject of official commissions. Moore also produced a large number of drawings, some of which are collected in sketchbooks; the most famous of these is the Shelter Sketchbook, held at the British Museum, whose drawings were made in air-raid shelters during the bombing of London.
Live at Leeds
Live at Leeds is the first live album by the English rock band The Who, released in 1970. This album is a recording of a concert held on 14 February 1970 at the University of Leeds. This album was named the best live album of all time by the New York Times and is still regarded today as one of the very best concert recordings, even though legend has it that it was recorded in a studio. A commemorative plaque was unveiled in 2006 by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, guitarist and lead singer of The Who respectively. It reads: ‘The University Refectory is a legendary concert venue. The Who’s performance here on 14 February 1970 was recorded and released as Live at Leeds, the most celebrated live album of its generation.’