Wensley Drive, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS7

North Leeds

NORTH LEEDS LIFE HAS PLENTY TO OFFER 

In a nutshell:-

North Leeds is home to many of the city’s most sought after addresses and comprises several towns and villages, extending out towards Harroagate.

There’s something for everyone here, from the bright lights of Headingley and Chapel Allerton, packed with bars, cafes and restaurants, through to the special streets of Alwoodley, where you will find some of Yorkshire’s most exclusive streets, lined with a wide array of grand homes. 

The leafy villages of Bramhope and Adel are always popular, as are the renowned Leeds suburbs of Meanwood, Moortown, Roundhay, Shadwell, Weetwood, and West Park, which all offer easy access to both the city centre and the Leeds Outer Ring Road.

Housing stock:- 

North Leeds has an incredibly diverse range of properties including sprawling Victorian terraced houses that make up many streets in the area. There is a mix of three-bedroom pre- and post-war semi-detached homes, with their private gardens and scope to extend, the smaller miller style stone cottage terraces in Headingley, which date back to the early 1800’s, and many large family homes. North Leeds has also seen well-known developers create fantastic new-build developments in recent years and it therefore boasts a very eclectic mix of property.

Schools:-

There’s a huge choice of schools in the area and many are rated as outstanding by Ofsted. Lawnswood School, located off the well-known Lawnswood Roundabout, is one of the biggest schools in Leeds and famous playwright, screenwriter and author, Alan Bennett was a pupil there. The Grammar School at Leeds is situated in the Alwoodley area and has been named in The Sunday Times ‘North Independent Secondary School of the Decade’ league table.

Transport links:- 

The main rail line in North Leeds weaves out of the city centre, with stations at Burley Park and Headingley, before heading West towards Kirkstall Forge and Horsforth, and then on towards Harrogate. 

The whole area is well served by bus routes and several successful park and ride schemes. In addition, there are accessible cycle routes into Leeds city centre and Leeds Bradford International Airport is just a 15-minute drive from Lawnswood Roundabout.  

Shopping:- 

It’s unlikely you’ll ever be more than a couple of miles from a supermarket and there’s a whole host of celebrated independent and artisan shops throughout North Leeds, as well as a wide range of international supermarkets. 

Plus, if you still crave more, the city centre is less than 20 minutes away from most of North Leeds’s most popular areas where you will find everything from high-end designer boutiques through to Kirkgate Market, which is Europe’s largest covered market, as well as everything in between.

Eating and drinking:- 

You could go out every day for a year and still not experience half of what’s on offer! 

Some of the most famous restaurants in North Leeds include San Carlo Flying Pizza on Roundhay’s fashionable Street Lane, Salvo’s in Headingley, which is a Leeds institution, Jino’s Thai Café on North Lane, Chophaus in Oakwood and Sukhothai in Chapel Allerton.

Once the food has settled, you’ll find quaint country pubs through to lively bars spread across the area, but if you want it ramp it up a notch, Chapel Allerton and Headingley is where the action is. 

For true party animals, there’s also the famous Otley Run, a huge pub crawl that stops at 16 pubs and bars, starting at Woodies Ale House in Far Headingley and finishing at The Dry Dock in Leeds city centre!

Leisure time:- 

Sport lovers are right at home in North Leeds. The famous Headingley Cricket Ground, which adjoins Leeds Rhinos’ Headingley Rugby Stadium, has been hosting Test cricket since 1899. 

The Brownlee Centre is the UK’s first purpose-built triathlon training centre and sits alongside the recently opened one-mile Bodington cycle circuit, one of the longest in the country. Alongside this, there are a variety of sports pitches that are used by university students and the local community. 

North Leeds is also home to some of the best golf courses in the North of England with Moor Allerton, Shadwell, Sandmoor, Leeds Golf Centre, Alwoodley, Scarcroft and Headingley all ranking high amongst golfers, who come from far and wide to play them. We also shouldn’t forget Moortown Golf Club, which hosted the first Ryder Cup ever held in Europe in 1929. 

North Leeds’s claim to fame:- 

Roundhay Park is a hugely popular local attraction and offers more than 700 acres of parkland, lakes, gardens and woodland, making it one of the biggest city parks in Europe. 

Another must see attraction is the Grade II listed Hyde Park Picture House. It opened at the start of the First World War in 1914 and is thought to be the only existing gas lit cinema in the world.

North Leeds’s best kept secret:- 

During the Victorian times, North Leeds had a zoo! The Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens opened in 1840 and housed bears and monkeys. If you stroll down Cardigan Lane, you can still see the empty bear pit.