Overview
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on the River Aire and is the urban core of the City of Leeds metropolitan district.

According to the 2001 UK census the Leeds Urban Area had a population of 457,247 while the metropolitan district, City of Leeds had a population of 747,939 and is one of England's core cities.

History
The name "Leeds" came from "Loidis" (Bede states: "...regione quae vocatur Loidis" region known as Loidis), a word of Celtic origin, also surviving in the nearby place names of Ledston and Ledsham. Leeds has been known since being mentioned (as "Ledes") in the Domesday Book of 1086, (the name evolved into "Leedes" and finally "Leeds"). 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. The Industrial Revolution had resulted in the radical growth of Leeds whose population had risen to over 150,000 by 1840. The city's industrial growth was catalysed by the introduction of the Aire & Calder Navigation in 1699, Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816 and the railway in 1848. In 1893 Leeds had been granted city status. These industries that developed in the Industrial Revolution had included making machinery for spinning, machine tools, steam engines and gears as well as other industries based on textiles, chemicals and leather and pottery. Coal was extracted on a large scale and the still functioning Middleton Railway, the first successful commercial steam locomotive railway in the world, transported coal from Middleton colliery into the centre of Leeds. The first permanent set of fully automatic traffic lights was installed at the junction of Park Row and Bond Street, Leeds, in 1928.

By the 20th century this social and economic status had started to change with the creation of the academic institutions that are known today as the University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds Trinity & All Saints. This period had also witnessed expansion in medical provision particularly Leeds General Infirmary and St James's Hospital. Following World War II there was a decline in secondary industries that had thrived in the 19th century. In 1951, half the workforce was still in manufacturing; by 1971 the figure was a third. Leeds lost a third of its manufacturing jobs during 1971-1981 (Champion & Townsend, 1990, p.82). In 1991, 64,000 were employed in manufacturing. In 2003, 2,103 firms employed 44,500 (10% of workforce) - see Leeds Economy Handbook. But there are still some large engineering firms. The largest make turbine blades, components, alloys, valves and pipelines for the oil industry, switchgear, printers' supplies, copper alloys, surgical and hospital equipment, pumps, motors, radiators.

In the 1980s, the Conservative government designated Urban Development Corporations on a number of UK cities: some declining areas were taken out of local authority control and government funding was provided with the aim of speeding up and concentrating private sector investment in the most run-down areas. Leeds Development Corporation ran from 1988-1995 and helped to focus attention on two decayed industrial areas (The lower Kirkstall Valley and the riverside area to the south east of the city centre). Achievements of LDC included refurbishment of many riverside properties, the opening up of Granary Wharf and the Royal Armouries development.

Today Leeds is known as one of eight core cities that act as a focus of their respective regions and Leeds is generally regarded as the dominant city of the ceremonial county of West Yorkshire, and the dominant city in Yorkshire as a whole.

Culture
The city has a strong sporting heritage, with Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Football Club and Leeds Carnegie Rugby Union Football Club playing at Headingley (cricket and rugby grounds are adjacent), Hunslet Hawks Rugby League Footbal Club, based at the South Leeds Stadium, and Leeds United Football Club playing at Elland Road. Unlike many other large cities such as Manchester, London, and Liverpool, Leeds only has one league football team. However, recently Farsley Celtic a team based in west Leeds were promoted to the Football Conference, which was their third promotion in four years.

Leeds United were formed in 1919 (in Salem Chapel just south of Leeds bridge), due to the bankruptcy of a previous club, Leeds City. Their first major trophies came in 1968 when they won the League Cup and the European Fairs Cup under the management of Don Revie. They won two league titles and an FA Cup before Revie left for the England team job in 1974. Their only major success since then was winning promotion to the top division in 1990 and then top division champions in 1992. Between 1982 and 1990 Leeds United were in the second tier of the English league, and returned to this level in 2004 following a financial crisis which almost resulted in bankruptcy. They narrowly missed out on a return to the Premiership in 2006, when losing the Championship play-off final 3-0 to Watford. However, following a poor season which culminated in administration and a resultant 10-point deduction they are to be relegated to the lowest position of their history - Football League One. Farsley Celtic and several other non-league clubs also represent the city.

Hunslet Hawks are based in the working class area of South Leeds. The Hawks play their home games at the South Leeds Stadium, and they are known as 'the Parksiders' after their former ground Parkside. Hunslet's greatest achievement was being the first club to win All Four Cups, which they did in the 1907-08 season. They were captained by Albert Goldthorpe, who operated in the back line. Hunslet's forward pack of that season was equally (in)famous, going by the name of "The Terrible Six".

Hunslet did not the top the championship table at the end of the season, coming behind Oldham, whom they defeated 10-12 in a championship replay after the first match was drawn 7 apiece. They ran out 14-0 winners in the Challenge Cup Final in front of 18,000 spectators at Fartown, Huddersfield. They took the Yorkshire Cup by virtue of a 17-0 victory over Halifax.

Leeds Rhinos ("The Loiners") were crowned Super League champions on 16 October 2004 after defeating arch rivals Bradford Bulls (formerly Bradford Northern) 16-8, at Old Trafford, Manchester. They then went on to be crowned world champions, after a victory over the Australian team Cantebury Bulldogs, in the Carnegie World Cup Final, the following February. Unfortunately they lost the Grand Final to Bradford Bulls in 2005. Hunslet Hawks, Bramley Buffaloes and Leeds Akkies are other Leeds-based rugby league teams.

Leeds Tykes, now known as Leeds Carnegie, won their first ever trophy in 2005 with battling performance to defeat favourites Bath in the Powergen Cup final. In the 2005-06 season the Tykes were relegated from the Guinness Premiership. However the Tykes won promotion back to the Premiership the following season. The club's name changed to the current Leeds Carnegie shortly after the 2006-07 season when Leeds Metropolitan University took a majority stake in the club (Carnegie College is the University's sport department).

Leeds City AC is amongst the biggest and most successful athletics clubs in the north of England and has had the most successful men's harriers section in the country in the 21st century. Since the turn of the millennium the team has never been out of the top 4 in the National Cross Country Championships, winning in 2003, 2006 and 2007. In 2006 and 2007 the team achieved the 'Grand Slam' of wins - Yorkshire, North of England and English National Champions.

Leeds City Vixens L.F.C. are a womens football team in Leeds. They play in the Northern Combination Women's Football League and last season the finished 2nd in the league. They moved ground from Adel Memorial to The Bracken Edge the same ground as Yorkshire Amateur A.F.C..

Leeds has a wealth of sports facilities including the 45,000 capacity Elland Road football stadium, a host stadium during the 1996 European Football Championship, the Headingley Carnegie Stadiums, world famous for both cricket and rugby league, Leeds International Pool (50 m), South Leeds Stadium used for rugby league (Hunslet RLFC), athletics, bowls, football and tennis. Other facilities include the Leeds Wall (climbing), Yeadon Tarn sailing centre. Nearby, in Castleford, is Xscape (real snow indoor ski and snowboard slope with ice climbing wall).

Leeds was voted Britain's Best City for Business by Omis Research in 2003 but dropped to 3rd place behind Manchester and Glasgow in 2005 ("Relative under-performance over the past two years in transport improvements and cost competitiveness were the major contributing factors")[2]. It is also regarded as the fastest growing city in the UK[3]and has a diverse economy with the service sector now dominating over the city's manufacturing industries. Leeds is the largest financial centre in England outside the capital [citation needed]. New tertiary industries such as retail, call centres, offices and media have contributed to a high rate of economic growth since the early 1990s. Nearly 100,000 people work in financial and business services - about a quarter of the workforce. The strength of the economy is also indicated by the low unemployment rate. However, despite the growth of the Leeds economy in recent years, large parts of Leeds do remain poor, especially to the north and east of the city centre, typical of the large cities in the north of England.

Growth sectors in financial & business services: banking, labour recruitment*, commercial cleaning, legal services, insurance, pension funds, computing*, architecture and civil engineering, real estate, investigation & security, accountancy, equipment leasing, consultancy & market research*, advertising, and R&D*.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds