Briggate

Briggate is a pedestrianised principal shopping street in Leeds city centre, England. Historically it was the main street, leading north from Leeds Bridge, and housed markets, merchant's houses and other business premises. It contains many historic buildings, including the oldest in the city, and others from the 19th and early-20th century, including two theatres. It is noted for the yards between some older buildings with alleyways giving access and Victorian shopping arcades, which were restored in late 20th century. The street was pedestrianised in the late-20th century.

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Battle of Leeds

The battle of Leeds took place during the First English Civil War on 23 January 1643, when a Parliamentarian force attacked the Royalist garrison of Leeds, Yorkshire. The attack was partly dictated by the need to maintain local support for the Parliamentarian cause; the Earl of Newcastle had recently shifted the balance of power in Yorkshire in the Royalists' favour with the addition of his 8,000-strong army, and sent one of his commanders, Sir William Savile to capture Leeds. The West Riding of Yorkshire relied on the cloth trade, and Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax sent his son, Sir Thomas Fairfax to bolster the defences of nearby Bradford, before agreeing to his request to attack Leeds. Savile, who had command of around 2,000 men in Leeds, built a trench on the western edge of Leeds, destroyed one bridge on the approach to the town and heavily fortified another. Fairfax attacked during a heavy snowstorm, bringing an army of roughly 3,000 men to attack Leeds in three places. The battle lasted around two hours before the Parliamentarians secured the town, and captured about 500 prisoners. Fairfax lost around 20 men during the attack, while the Royalists suffered roughly double as many fatalities.

Whitelock's Ale House

Whitelock's Ale House is a pub in the city centre of Leeds, in England. The pub lies on Turk's Head Yard, on a narrow burgage plot off Briggate. The building it occupies was constructed in about 1700 as a row of cottages, and the easternmost of these was licensed as the Turk's Head pub in 1715. John Lupton Whitelock became the landlord in 1867, and in the 1880s he purchased the cottage, renaming the pub as Whitelock's First City Luncheon Bar. In 1895, John's son, William Henry Whitelock, commissioned Waite & Sons to remodel the pub. It was extended into the next cottage, a new kitchen was created, and the whole was redecorated with a scheme which largely survives. As part of the refurbishment, electric lighting and an electric clock were installed, supposedly the first building in the city to have these features. The pub was later further extended, to encompass the whole terrace of cottages. In the early 20th century, the landlord was Lupton Whitelock, a well known flautist, and under his management, the pub became popular with musicians, other artists, journalists and academics. Among its regulars was John Betjeman, who described as "the very heart of Leeds". Other regulars included Peter O'Toole, Len Hutton and Keith Waterhouse. Prince George once held a party in a curtained-off area of the pub. The pub was sold by the Whitelocks to Scottish Brewers in 1944. It was Grade II listed in 1963, and in 2022, it was upgraded to grade II*. It is also listed on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. In 2015, the western part of the pub, which had formerly been a function room, was converted into a separate pub, named The Turks Head. The building is built of brick, with stone dressings. It is mostly two storeys in height, with a cellar, although the western part is three storeys high. Some of the windows contain stained glass, mostly advertising the pub, although one above a doorway advertises an engraving business which was formerly based upstairs. In the main bar, part of which was formerly curtained off as a dining room, the walls are covered in mirrors and panelling. There are long bench seats, separated by baffles to form booths. The bar takes up half the rear wall, and has a tiled front, and a copper and marble top. The first floor former dining room also has panelling and mirrors, and retains a Victorian fireplace.

Commercial Street, Leeds

Commercial Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is 0.2 miles (0.32 km) long.

Leeds

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It was awarded its Royal City Charter by King Charles 1st in 1626 and expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries by becoming a major production and trading centre (mainly with wool). Leeds developed as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution alongside other surrounding villages and towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire. 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, and a populous urban centre formed in the following century which absorbed surrounding villages and overtook the population of nearby York. Leeds's economy is the most diverse of all the UK's main employment centres, has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of private to public sector jobs. Leeds is home to over 109,000 companies, generating 5% of England's total economic output, at £60.5 billion, and is also ranked as a high sufficiency city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Leeds is considered the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. Leeds is also served by five universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and the country's fourth largest urban economy. The student population has stimulated growth of the nightlife in the city and there are ample facilities for sporting and cultural activities, including classical and popular music festivals, and a varied collection of museums. The city is home to the Leeds United football club. Leeds has multiple motorway links such as the M1, M62 and A1(M). The city's railway station is, alongside Manchester Piccadilly, the busiest of its kind in Northern England. Public transport, rail and road networks in the city and wider region are widespread. It is the county's largest settlement, with a population of 536,280, while the larger City of Leeds district has a population of 812,000 (2021 census). The city is part of the fourth-largest built-up area by population in the United Kingdom, West Yorkshire Built-up Area, with a 2011 census population of 1.7 million.