62 Interesting Facts About Leeds

On this page, you’ll find a long list of educational, interesting, and fun facts about Leeds, the “Capital of the North”! Leeds was an industrial powerhouse that was the gateway to several national parks and the far north of England. Today, it is known for its many Victorian relics. 

General Leeds Facts

• Leeds is the fifth-largest city in England, with an area of 552 km² (213 mi²), almost twice as big as Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

• Leeds is the largest city in Yorkshire (formerly called County of York), England’s largest county.

• Leeds is England’s furthest north major city, located 165 km (103 mi) from the England–Scotland border.

• It is also the closest major city to several national parks in Northern England, including Yorkshire Dales National Park, Lake District National Park, and North York Moors National Park.

• Leeds sits at roughly the same latitude as Hamburg (Germany) and Edmonton (Canada). 

• Leeds’s core city has a population of about 500,000, making it the eighth-largest city in England after London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol, and Leicester. 

• Metropolitan Leeds, also called West Yorkshire and including the cities of Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, and Huddersfield, has a population of 2.3 million, making it the fourth largest urban area in England after London, Birmingham, and Manchester.

• 92% of the population of Leeds speak the Northern accent of English, also called the Yorkshire dialect. The rest speak Polish, Urdu, and Punjabi.

• The antipodal city to Leeds is Papatowai, Otaga in New Zealand.

• The name Leeds is derived from the Celtic word Ladenses, which means “people of the fast-flowing river”, in reference to the River Aire that flows through the city.

• A person from Leeds is called a Lioner, which is a name that’s thought to have originated from the city’s old name, Loidis.

• The owl is Leeds’s civic symbol, and the coat of arms has three owls on it. A 7-foot-high gold-leafed owl sculpture is outside Leeds Civic Hall.

• Leeds’s motto is ‘Pro rege et lege,’ which is Latin for ‘For king and law.’

Random Interesting Facts

• Leeds has 62 community parks, including Roundhay Park, one of the largest parks in Europe, at 700 acres (2.8 km² or 1.08 mi²). The park sees over 1 million visitors per year.

• Leeds’s official football team, Leeds United, is also nicknamed The Peacocks and The Whites.

• Team mottos/anthems include “Leeds Leeds Leeds”, Marching on Together, and ALAW, which is an acronym for ‘All Leeds, Aren’t We?’.

• There are many other sports teams based in Leeds, such as Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Leads Rhino Rugby team, and the American football team The Yorkshire Rams.

• Historic England identifies 3417 listed buildings in Leeds in the National Heritage List.

• Leeds Bridge made an appearance in the first moving picture by the French artist Louis Le Prince. The bridge dates to 1870.

• Leeds City Museum contains the bones of a hippopotamus, believed to have roamed Leeds over 100,000 years ago.

• Leeds is the home of The Royal Armories Museum of the UK, which features displays of Ancient and Medieval warfare till the 19th and 20th centuries.

• Kirkgate Market in Leeds is the largest indoor market in the UK.

• The tallest maypole (a wooden pole erected for folk celebrations) in the UK stands proudly in Leeds. Called Barwick-in-Elmet, it stands 26 m (86 ft).

• The 1,000 acres of land of Temple Newsam, which has 42 rooms, lakes, a farm, and a parkland, is described as one of the top heritage properties in Britain.

• The Leeds Town Hall clock, except on the new year, never chimes at midnight.

• Leeds has an apartment block that was built upside down, mistakenly putting the ground floor wall panels on the upper floor.

• Leeds Railway Station, with its 17 platforms, is one of England’s busiest train stations outside of Central London.

• The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a 204 km (127 mi) canal linking the two cities. It is the longest canal in England.

• The famous candy Jelly Tots was accidentally invented by the Leeds scientist Dr. Brian Boffey and released in 1965.

• On the first Monday in August, a public holiday, Leeds holds the annual Leeds Carnival. It is the oldest Caribbean Carnival in Europe, held since 1967.

Suggested Read: 25 Fun Facts About Monday: The Day That Shapes Our Week

• The English writer and scholar J.R.R. Tolkien lived in Leeds before writing Lord of the Rings.

• Before J. J. Schweppe developed carbonated water and started the Schweppes Company in Geneva in 1783, Joseph Priestley was the one who discovered the method of infusing water with carbon dioxide in Leeds in 1767.

• Leeds is the birthplace and home of the famous comedian Ernie Wise.

• The famous crime drama Peaky Blinders has scenes shot at Leeds Town Hall and various studios in Leeds.

• Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the father of American Architecture, was born in Leeds. Latrobe helped design the White House, the United States Capitol building, and the first Roman Catholic Cathedral in America.

• Harry Houdini, the famous American magician, nearly killed himself in Leeds. He almost failed an attempt to escape a padlocked can, filled with beer, but was luckily saved by his assistant.

• The University of Leeds is 1^st in the UK for Business Administration, 7th for Accounting and Finance, and 10th for Business, Management, and Marketing.

• The founder of IMDb, Col Needham, studied Computer Science at Leeds University.

• Triathlon World Champions, the Brownlee brothers, studied Sports Science and Physiology at Leeds University.

• Sir Edmund Happold, the structural engineer who designed some of the most famous buildings in the world, such as Sydney Opera House, Hyde Park Barracks, and Riyadh Conference Center, was born in Leeds in 1930.

• Leeds is the original Motorway City. Motorways have gone around and through Leeds since 1959, when the M1 was first opened.

• Leeds has seven twin cities, including Brno (Czech Republic), Hangzhou (China), and Louisville (USA).

Historical Facts

• The first mention of Leeds dates to 730 AD; little is known about the area before that time, although some Bronze and Iron Age objects have been found.

• In 2008-9, the West Yorkshire Hoard was found, a collection of treasures dating to the 10^th or 11^th centuries, suggesting an important Anglo-Saxon settlement.

• Leeds remained primarily agricultural in the following centuries, with only a few hundred people living in town. It was also an important river crossing on the route from York to Chester.

• Kirkstall Abbey northwest of the Leeds city center was first built in 1152. Its ruins can still be visited today.

• By the 16^th century, Leeds was strongly competing with York and Beverly in the wool industry and trade.

• A piped water supply was pumped to those who could pay in the 17^th century.

• St. John’s Church in New Briggate, Leeds’ oldest still-running church, was built-in 1634.

• In 18^th century Leeds, other industries blossomed, such as pottery and brick-making, as well as other crafts like clockmaking, jewelry, and ironwork, transforming Leeds into an Industrial Revolution powerhouse.

• By the 19th century, Leeds had gas-lit streets, started building and connecting dwellings to sewers, and was connected to Selby and York by railway.

• The first commercial steam locomotive was built in Leeds in 1812. Today, it is in the Leeds Industrial Museum.

• Leeds holds the unfortunate record of the first rail fatality, which happened in 1821.

• The landmark Leeds Corn Exchange building was built in 1864 during the Victorian era. Today, it is a luxury shopping mall and one of the only original corn exchange buildings in England still used for commercial activities.

• The famous Marks and Spencer clothing retail store started as a market stall in Leeds in 1884.

• Leeds gained its title as a city in 1893.

• The first council houses were built, and St James University Hospital was founded in the early 20^th century.

• The largest animal armor in the world has been displayed in Leeds City Museum since 1996. 

• The world’s first double hand transplant surgery in 2013 was successfully completed in Leeds General Infirmary.

• In 2020, Leeds United, the city’s official football club, returned to the Premier League after 16 years of absence.

• In 2022, Samuel L. Jackson was spotted around Leeds as he was in town for filming of Marvel’s Secret Invasion.