The Javelin Group’s annual ranking of the UK’s top 3,000 retail venues has seen Leeds move up one place from last year.
The top three destinations outside of London have been named as Glasgow at number one, Manchester in second place and Leeds third.
With the arrival of Trinity Leeds and the First Direct Arena in recent years, Leeds city centre has gone from strength to strength. The centre currently consists of eight indoor shopping centres and over 1000 stores.
This latest accolade further strengthens Leeds position as a premier retail destination, with an estimated 1.9 million people living within 30 minutes’ drive of the city centre and a total shopping catchment population of nearly 3.2 million people regionally.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council executive board member with responsibility for transport and the economy said:
“I am delighted with Leeds going up the league of premier shopping locations in the UK. In the last few years a number of new and exciting developments have sprung up in the city including the Trinity Leeds shopping centre, the arrival of the First Direct Arena and the start of work to the new Victoria Gate scheme.
“Over the last 10 years almost £2.7billon of major property development schemes have been completed in the city with a further £178million of schemes under construction at the end of 2013.
“Leeds is thriving and will continue to do so as developments continue to be built in the city centre.”
This is fantastic news for our great city. Leeds has changed vastly over the centuries and in more recent times. Turn to this month’s feature on pages 30-31 to find out how Leeds was in the beginning and how it has developed through the ages.
