Quality of life
Leeds City Region combines a vibrant economy with a rich cultural heritage, unspoilt rural assets and contemporary urban developments, making it one of the UK’s best places to live and work.
The cost of living in the Leeds City Region is lower than many other major UK cities and business centres including Manchester, Brighton and Bristol, while the average detached home in Leeds City Region is over £220,000 cheaper than the average flat in London.
The Leeds City Region is now a major destination for recreation with developments like Leeds Trinity and Victoria Gate, which hosts the region’s flagship John Lewis store, Bradford's Broadway and York Designer Outlet, offering discounts on over 120 designer brands. Leeds City Region has a strong independent retail sector, particularly in Saltaire, Leeds and Huddersfield.
Aside from retail, Leeds City Region is also home to the First Direct Arena, a world-class entertainment venue with a 13,500 capacity, HIC Yorkshire Conference and Exhibition Centre in Harrogate and sporting destinations such as the unique Headingley Stadium.
Leeds City Region also boasts a thriving food and drink scene, with Michelin-starred and Michelin Bib Gourmand-rated restaurants, as well as innovative street food outlets, like Leeds’ Trinity Kitchen.
Most of our region's cities are less than an hour's travel from magnificent moorlands, mountains and rivers, and many of the Leeds City Region's towns are nestled in rejuvenating countryside or close to three of the UK's national parks.
Art, culture and history
Our region is famous for nurturing creative minds. Artists like Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney and Damien Hirst all originate from Yorkshire, or came to study at our leading colleges of art and design. The Bronte sisters, Ted Hughes and Alan Bennett are among the important and influential artists who came from our region.
Leeds City Region also has also produced more than its fair share of international sporting gold medal-winners, including Olympians Lizzie Armitstead, Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee and Nicola Adams.
In fact, Yorkshire athletes were so successful at the 2016 Rio Olympics, that if Yorkshire competed as a country in its own right, it would have finished higher in the medal tables than New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.
We have internationally-renowned galleries and cultural space, such as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park,
the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds city centre, and Wakefield’s iconic Hepworth art gallery on the city’s rejuvenated waterfront.
Along with two UNESCO world heritage sites at Fountains Abbey and Saltaire, five national museums plus countless stately homes, cathedrals and Roman and Viking archaeological sites, the Leeds City Region has an inspiring cultural history.
It’s a prestigious heritage complemented by more contemporary additions like royal theatres, the West Yorkshire Playhouse and two renowned performing arts companies both based in the Leeds City Region; the award-winning Opera North and Northern Ballet.