About Leeds

Leeds is a major city in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on the River Aire and is the urban core of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. The name "Leeds" came from "Leodis", which was a name recorded in Anglo-Saxon sources for a Celtic kingdom that survived in the area for a while after the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Leeds has been known since being mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Leeds was an agricultural market town in the Middle Ages, and received its first charter in 1207. In the Tudor period Leeds was mainly a merchant town, manufacturing woollen cloths and trading with Europe via the Humber estuary, and the population grew from 10,000 at the end of the 17th century to 30,000 at the end of the 18th. At one point nearly half of England's total exports passed through Leeds. Recently Leeds has received accolades in the field of tourism; including being voted by Conde Nast Traveller magazine Readers' Awards as the "UK's favourite city" and "Visitor city of the year" by The Good Britain Guide. Leeds has excellent transport links with the rest of Yorkshire and the UK.