Smart Lease - Over 20 Years of car leasing in Leeds

---

 

 

Leeds

Did You Know?

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire. In 2011, it had an estimated population of 757,800, making it the third-largest city in the United Kingdom.

From the invention of the mouse trap to sheep grazing on rooftops and museums that hold the world’s largest animal armour, Leeds has many stories to tell. And even if you’ve lived here all your life, you probably haven’t heard them all. So let us introduce you to 55 intriguing things you might not know about our brilliant city.

Leeds was first mentioned in Anglo-Saxon times when it was called Loidis. By the time the settlement is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 it was then spelt Ledes.

The most expensive piece of furniture ever sold in Britain was designed by Thomas Chippendale. The Leeds born cabinetmaker’s Harrington Commode was sold for an incredible £3.8 million at Sotheby’s in 2010.

Leeds originated as an Anglo-Saxon town on the north bank of the river Aire. It grew as a local market centre and which was incorporated in 1626. The completion in 1816 of the Leeds Canal also stimulated Leeds growth, and after 1848 the railway made the city a major centre of Railway Train engineering.

Leeds City Station is the busiest in the UK outside of central London, with over 900 trains and 100,000 passengers per day.

The Ryder Cup came to Leeds – you read that right. Back in 1929, the world’s best battled it out at Moortown Golf Club for the most famous prize in the game.

Leeds is ranked sixth in the list of Britain’s ‘greenest’ cities based on environmental performance and quality of life

Hippos once walked the same streets we do now and we have the proof. In 1984, during the construction of the Armley Gyratory, the bones of an ancient hippo believed to date back around 130,000 years were discovered in Leeds.

Marks & Spencer is a British institution that began as a market stall. Back in 1884, Michael Marks opened up a penny bazaar in Leeds Kirkgate Market. 10 years later, he teamed up with Tom Spencer to grow the business, leaving the market for new premises on Boar Lane before moving to Briggate where you’ll still find the store today.

Named the best shopping destination in the UK, the city centre has 3.5 million sq ft of retail floor space, five miles of shopping streets and one of the country’s largest pedestrianised shopping areas

The Blackburn Type D is the oldest flying aeroplane in Britain and it was made right here in Leeds. Robert Blackburn built his one seat monoplane for Cyril Foggin in 1912, just a decade after the Wright Brothers’ famous first flight. Incredibly, the plane is still flying over 100 years on and is kept in the Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire.

Leeds is a city in the northern England. On the bank of the River Aire, the Leeds Royal Armouries houses the national collection of arms and artillery. Across the river, the redeveloped industrial area around Call Lane is famous for its stunning restaurants, lively bars and live music venues. Leeds Kirkgate Market features 100's of indoor and outdoor stalls.

Leeds is served by three universities, it has the fourth largest student population in the UK.

Matthew Murray is one of the pioneers of the industrial age. He helped John Marshall build the Marshall Mills complex, which is still in use today, but his biggest role came with the progression of steam trains. He built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the Salamanca, in 1812.

The creation of Cluedo is no mystery. Birmingham musician Anthony E. Pratt used his love of detective novels to make the first version of the game, originally called Murder! in 1944. He was soon introduced to master board game makers Waddington’s, who were then based in Leeds. They saw it was a winner right away and agreed to produce it under the new name of Cluedo