While often overshadowed by its more glamorous counterparts, Leeds,
the fastest-growing city in the UK, is a city just waiting to say“Hey you, look at me.”
Whether it’s caught up to its cohorts yet is debatable, but it’s undeniable that Leeds is
not without its own accolades: this was the site of Britain’s first permanent traffic
lights, first shopping mall, and the home of Mel B. (a.k.a. uScary Spice). It’s not surprising, then, that Leeds is
a modern, sleek, and diverse city with large business districts, great shopping, lots of
traffic, and a strong music scene. Leeds is also one of the largest “college towns” in the
UK, with three universities, the largest being the University of Leeds (32,000 students
and former employer of Professor JRR Tolkien), and 200,000 students in total. Leeds has
the second most public parks of any city in England after London, and it’s the only city
outside London with its own ballet and opera companies. Loiners, as Leeds folk are known,
take care of their city.