![The Headrow in 1920 & 1930](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/The_Headrow_in_1920_%26_1930.png)
The Headrow is an
avenue
Avenue or Avenues may refer to:
Roads
* Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees)
* Avenue Road, Bangalore
* Avenue Road, ...
in
Leeds city centre
Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters.
C ...
,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
, England.
It is one of the most important thoroughfares in central Leeds, hosting many of the city's civic and cultural buildings including
Leeds Town Hall
Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow (formerly Park Lane), Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built be ...
,
Leeds Central Library
Leeds Central Library is a public library in Leeds. Situated in the city centre, on Calverley Street, it houses the city library service's single largest general lending and reference collection and hosts the Leeds Art Gallery.
Services avai ...
,
Leeds Art Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance" ...
, The
Henry Moore Institute
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
and
The Light. Some of the largest retail floorplates in the city are on The Headrow, particularly between
Park Row and
Briggate
Briggate is a pedestrianised principal High Street, shopping street in Leeds city centre, England. Historically it was the main street, leading north from Leeds Bridge, and housed markets, merchant's houses and other business premises. It cont ...
, where major chains have opened flagship stores. The Headrow is part of a longer axis that includes Westgate,
Eastgate Eastgate may refer to:
Places Canada
* Eastgate, Alberta, Canada
* Eastgate, British Columbia, Canada
United Kingdom
* Eastgate, County Durham, England
* Eastgate, Norfolk, England
* Eastgate, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England
* Eastgate, C ...
and
Quarry Hill.
The Headrow forms a spine across the city centre between Westgate and Eastgate and is approximately ½ mile (700 m) long. It was widened between 1928 and 1932 in a redevelopment designed by architect
Reginald Blomfield
Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period.
Early life and career
Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...
primarily as a way of improving traffic flow through city centre. The area has an
advisory speed limit
An advisory speed limit is a speed recommendation by a governing body, used when it may be non-obvious to the driver that the safe speed is below the legal speed. It is a posting which either approximates the Basic Speed Law or rule (and is ...
of . The section between Park Row and Briggate is reserved for buses and taxis and cars/motorcycles are not permitted to use it between 5am and 10pm.
History
![Leedsnight](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Leedsnight.jpg)
Appearing on maps in 1560, the Headrow once formed the northern edge or "head" of medieval Leeds' boundary, hence its name. To the east the street crossed
Sheepscar Beck
The Meanwood Beck is a stream in West Yorkshire, England, which flows southwards through Adel, Meanwood and Sheepscar into the River Aire in central Leeds. Different portions of the same watercourse have been referred to as Adel Beck, Car ...
, a tributary of the
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...
now culverted, and continued, known as "The Street", to York. In the 17th century it was renamed Parke Lane, Burley Bar, Upper Head Row and Lower Head Row. Renamed again in the 19th century, at the junction with Albion Street the street ran to the east as Upperhead Row and Lowerhead Row and to the west as Park Lane and Guildford Street - once home to
St Anne's Cathedral which was demolished in November 1904 and relocated to Cookridge Street. More recently, running east-to-west, the street became Eastgate, the Headrow and Westgate, though portions of Park Lane remain at the far end of Westgate.
Developments included the construction of
Permanent House
The Light is a leisure and retail centre in central Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It occupies the rectangular space between The Headrow, Leeds, The Headrow on the south, St Anne's Street on the north, Cookridge Street on the west, and Albion ...
, the headquarters of the
Leeds Permanent Building Society
The Leeds Permanent Building Society was a building society founded in Leeds, England in 1848 and was commonly known in a shortened form as The Leeds or The Perm. It should not be confused with the extant Leeds Building Society (formerly Leeds ...
,
Lewis's
Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...
department store and the
Odeon Cinema
Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of ...
which opened as the
Paramount Theatre. Headrow House was constructed in the 1950s. The redevelopment is designed in a uniform
neo-baroque style similar to
Regent Street
Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...
in London also designed by Reginald Blomfield. The buildings are clad in red brick and
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...
as opposed to Portland stone only on Regent Street. The development of the Headrow as a road-widening scheme meant that the north side was constructed in the uniform style while the south side has a mixture of buildings from the 1800s to the present.
The Odeon, which was the last picture palace in the city centre, closed due to competition with local multiplexes and the impending opening of a thirteen screen multiplex at
The Light retail and leisure complex originally operated by
Ster Century
Ster Century is a Slovak cinema company, formerly known as City Cinemas.
The brand was formerly used in the UK, Spain, Greece, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic as a division of the South African cinema chain, Ster-Kinekor. Their UK head ...
and now
Vue
Vue or VUE may refer to:
Places
* Vue, Loire-Atlantique, a commune in France
* The Vue, a skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina
Arts, entertainment and media
* Vue (band), a rock and roll band from San Francisco, California
* Vue Cinemas, a c ...
, it closed in 2001. The building which was originally to be converted to an apartment & leisure complex but was almost immediately bought by
Primark
Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not u ...
who converted it into a large three storey clothes store that opened in August 2005. Primark vacated the building in March 2015 and in August 2015 the building re-opened as a Sports Direct store.
Retail
![The Headrow sign 7 Sep 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/The_Headrow_sign_7_Sep_2017.jpg)
Today the street is one of Leeds's principal shopping streets. The former Permanent House, now known as
The Light on the north side, houses a cinema, restaurants and a Radisson BLU Hotel. There is ground floor retail in
Direct Line
Direct Line is an insurance company based in Bromley, England. Founded in 1985, as the country's first direct car insurance company, it has since expanded to offer a range of general insurance products. Its policies are underwritten by the regul ...
House (originally Headrow House) on Dortmund Square. St John's Shopping Centre and
The Headrow Centre flank opposite sides of Dortmund Square, on The Headrow.
Broad Gate was built in 1932 and occupied by
Lewis's
Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...
from 1932-1996, it was then occupied by
Allders
Allders was an independent department store operating in the United Kingdom.
The original store was established in 1862 in Croydon by Joshua Allder. In the second half of the 20th century, this parent store was developed into a chain of depart ...
from 1996-2005. After the closure of
Allders
Allders was an independent department store operating in the United Kingdom.
The original store was established in 1862 in Croydon by Joshua Allder. In the second half of the 20th century, this parent store was developed into a chain of depart ...
in 2005, Broad Gate was closed for refurbishment. Since 2008, half of the Broad Gate building has been transformed into offices and the other half has remained open to the public as separate retail units occupied by retailers including
Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...
,
T.K. Maxx
TK Maxx is a subsidiary of the American apparel and home goods company TJX Companies based in Framingham, Massachusetts. The stores operate throughout the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands, totall ...
,
Argos
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
...
and
Clas Ohlson
Clas Ohlson is a Swedish home improvement chain and mail-order firm that specialises in hardware, home, leisure, electrical and multimedia products. It is one of the biggest of its type in Scandinavia, with more than 230 Clas Ohlson stores as of ...
.
In 2016
Clas Ohlson
Clas Ohlson is a Swedish home improvement chain and mail-order firm that specialises in hardware, home, leisure, electrical and multimedia products. It is one of the biggest of its type in Scandinavia, with more than 230 Clas Ohlson stores as of ...
was closed and In 2017 the unit was re-opened by
Home Sense
HomeSense (stylized as Homesense in Europe and the United States) is a Canadian chain of discount home furnishing stores owned by TJX Companies. It originated in Canada in 2001, and was expanded to Europe in 2008 and the United States in 2017. O ...
.
Opposite the former Odeon cinema is Crash Records, which has been a fixture of the Leeds music scene for over 30 years.
Attractions
The Light houses a 13-screen multiplex cinema operated by Vue and a Virgin Active Gym, Radisson BLU Hotel and restaurants and bars. There are several art galleries on The Headrow axis, including the major
Leeds City Art Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance" ...
,
Henry Moore Institute
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
and New Briggate gallery.
Victoria Gardens
At the western end of the Headrow is Victoria Gardens, Leeds'
Speakers' Corner
A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England. Historically there were a number of other areas design ...
, best known as the location of the war memorial, and where justice and anti-war rallies have gathered and terminated. The area is surrounded by Leeds Town Hall, Leeds City Art Gallery, The Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Central Library. The mother church of the Methodist District of Leeds, Oxford Place Methodist Mission, fronts the western side, while The Light shopping centre is on the eastern side.
Dortmund Square
In 1980, the area between Headrow House and Lewis store was converted to Dortmund Square. To celebrate ten years of twinning the people of
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
presented the people of Leeds with a bronze statue, sculpted by Arthur Shulze-Engels, of the Dortmund Drayman which stands in the square.
References
External links
Looking at Buildings - The Headrow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Headrow (Leeds)
Shopping streets in Leeds