Leeds is a city in north central England on the River Aire. Historically, a town was known in this place during the Norman conquest of England, and since then the town developed as a market town in the Middle Ages with a city ​​court from 1207. Leeds’ growth continued over the centuries, with the city establishing itself as an important trade center.

The fruitful trade took place at the White Cloth Hall, a cloth exchange from 1711, and later in the century Leeds accounted for about a sixth of England’s export trade. The success was due to the construction of the Aire and Calder Navigation canals in 1699 and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816. Throughout the 19th century, industrialization also took hold in Leeds with many new factories and businesses.

Today you can take some interesting strolls in the center of Leeds, which offers both several attractions and popular streets with Briggate as the main street. In Briggate and the continuation New Briggate you can visit some of the shopping arcades in the Victoria Quarter for which Leeds is famous.

The Grand Arcade from 1897, Thornton’s Arcade from 1878, the Queen’s Arcade from 1889 and the County Arcade from 1903 are some of the best known. You can also walk under the glass roofs of the large Trinity Leeds Centre, and close to Briggate is Kirkgate Market, which was the place where Marks & Spencer saw the light of day in 1884. The market is one of the city’s famous institutions and is housed in a beautiful building, impressive with its large art nouveau market hall from 1904.

You can also take a walk to Millennium Square, where Leeds Civic Hall is located. Leeds Civic Hall replaced Leeds Town Hall as the city’s town hall in 1933. The building is the seat of the city government, and on it you can see four famous gilded owls, two of which adorn the spire of the town hall.

From the square you can visit the Leeds City Museum to the east, located in the stately building that was built as the Mechanics’ Institute. At the museum you can see exhibitions about the history of Leeds, archaeological finds and natural history. A little south of here you come to Victoria Square, where the Leeds Town Hall from 1853-1858 and the art museum Leeds Art Gallery are located. To the east of the square, you can see the Leeds War Memorial, which was erected in 1922 in memory of those who fell in the First World War.

In Leeds there are also several churches worth seeing. You can visit Saint Anne’s Cathedral from 1904, which is a Catholic cathedral. There is no Anglican cathedral in the city, and the parish church of Leeds Minster stands as the main church in the city. There has been a church on this site since the 6th century, while the current Leeds Minster was completed in neo-Gothic style in 1841. The 42-meter-high tower is a significant feature of Leeds’ skyline, and in the church, you can notice some fine stained-glass windows.

In the city, it is also possible to get back to Leeds’ industrial past. Along the River Aire you can visit the Leeds Industrial Museum, where the history of industry from the 18th century to the present day is told, and the museum is open in a fine setting in the buildings from the historic Armley Mills.