Moving to Leeds

An overview of Leeds

Leeds is in the middle of West Yorkshire, and it has a lot of heart.

Leeds used to be the industrial capital of Yorkshire, but now it’s a cool, modern city with a growing tech industry and a lively arts scene. It is popular with both young people and families because it has nice places to shop, trendy bars, and a lot of green space. Outside of the city, more than 65% of the district is green belt land. Even better, the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park is only 20 miles away.

The city is diverse and cosmopolitan; almost 13% of its 800,000 people were born outside of the UK, which is only a little less than the UK-wide number of 14 %.

Leeds is in the middle of West Yorkshire, and it has a lot of heart.

The city is diverse and cosmopolitan; almost 13% of its 800,000 people were born outside of the UK, which is only a little less than the UK-wide number of 14 %.

The cost of moving to Leeds

How much it costs to move to Leeds depends on where you’re moving from and how much stuff you’re moving.

If you want to move the contents of a three-bedroom house from London to Leeds, which is about 875 cubic metres of stuff, you should expect to pay about £1,331. With this fee, you get:

loading/unloading
packing services/materials
dismantling/reassembling of furniture
the fee for distance travelled

It takes about 200 miles to drive from London to Leeds, and most moving companies charge £1 per mile (source: comparemymove, 2020).

The amount you pay for the move will also depend on the moving company you hire, the date you move, and whether or not you choose extra services like packing and putting together furniture.

The cost of living in Leeds

Leeds is not one of the most expensive cities in the UK, especially when compared to the towns and cities in the south. Here’s a general idea of how much things cost in Leeds (source: Numbeo, 2020).

Property prices

If you look at house prices all over the UK, Leeds is pretty much in the middle.

In Zoopla’s 2019 UK Cities House Price Index, Leeds was ranked 13th out of 20 cities in the UK. Its house price to income ratio was 5.7.

What’s the meaning? The house-price-to-earnings ratio shows how affordable housing is in a certain area. It is found by dividing the average property price by the average annual salary. The more expensive a neighbourhood is, the higher the number (relative to earnings).

Leeds has a ratio of 5.7, which isn’t too bad when you consider that London, Cambridge, and Oxford have ratios of 13.1, 12.2, and 11.9.

Over the past year, the average house price in Leeds has gone up by 9.26%, to £229,876. But the average price of a flat is only £171,519, and the average price of a terraced house is even less at £158,583. (source: Zoopla, 2020).

In 2019, the average cost of rent in Leeds was £715 per month, which is much less than the national average of £886 per month (source: Leeds Live, 2019).

Council tax

In Leeds, the council tax bands for 2020/21 range from A (£1,140.76 per year) to H (£3,422.29 per year), depending on the type of property and where it is. There is also a lower rate for people with disabilities, which is £950.63 per year.

Electricity bills

Like house prices, electricity bills in Leeds are pretty close to the average for the UK.

The average fixed cost of electricity in Yorkshire is £86.75 per year, which is £2 more than the UK average of £84.62. The average variable unit price of electricity in Yorkshire is 17.6p per kWh, which is 0.3p less than the average price in the UK, which is 17.9p.

Getting in and out of Leeds

We’re not saying that getting out of Leeds should be your top priority once you move there, but there are benefits to living in a city that’s easy to get around in. When you want to go on vacation, for example.

Leeds isn’t a fortress, which is a good thing. The city is easy to get to by car because the M1 goes right through it. You can get to Leeds Bradford Airport in 30 minutes, and direct trains leave from Leeds railway station for cities all over the UK. It takes just over two hours to get to London by train.

Public transport in Leeds

It’s easy to walk everywhere in Leeds because it’s a small city. But if you’re worried about how you’ll get to work, you’ll be glad to know that Leeds has great public transportation.

Its buses and trains usually run from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., and there are smaller train stations in many of Leeds’s suburbs. On the mTickets app, a weekly bus pass costs £17, while a weekly train pass from a suburb of Leeds, like Headingley, to the city centre costs around £55.

In the NewToLeeds guide, you can learn more about the public transportation in Leeds.

Working in Leeds

When it comes to jobs, Leeds has a lot to offer.

The Leeds City Council says that the city’s economy has grown by 34% over the past ten years and is expected to grow by 21% more over the next ten years. Leeds is the most popular place for fast-growing businesses in the UK, other than London and Cambridge.

Financial and business services (38% of total output), retail, leisure, tourism, manufacturing, construction, and the creative industries are some of the city’s most important industries.

There are more than 1,000 people working at Centrica, BT, Yorkshire Bank, Direct Line, Asda Group, and Ventura, all of which are based in Leeds. There are also three universities and the biggest teaching hospital trust in Europe.

Average salary in Leeds

Payscale and Total Jobs say that the average salary for a full-time job in Leeds is £26,000. This is a little bit less than the average salary in the UK, which was £30,420 in 2019.

Crime and safety in Leeds

Leeds isn’t one of the safest places in the UK, but when it comes to crime rates, it’s rare for a big city to do well. Like most cities, Leeds has both safe and dangerous areas.

In the year ending June 2020, there were 123.36 crimes per 1,000 people in Leeds, which was just a little bit more than the average “across similar areas.”

The best neighbourhoods in Leeds

Leeds could be the right place for you if you enjoy both a busy city centre and a quiet view of the countryside. Like London and Birmingham, Leeds feels like a group of commuter villages that all fit together around a city center. Each area has its own unique features. Here are our three favourite places to live in Leeds.

Roundhay

A peaceful neighbourhood for families
Average property price: £360,351

Roundhay is probably the most expensive part of Leeds. It is three miles northeast of the city centre. The area is full of Victorian homes and modern flats. The Victorian homes are near the huge 19th-century Roundhay Park, which you can read more about below.

Even though it is close to the centre of Leeds, this neighbourhood has a quiet, almost rural feel. There are a lot of bars, restaurants, delis, and cafes in Roundhay, so you’ll have something to do on the weekend. There are also a lot of great elementary and high schools in the Roundhay area. Check out Roundhay’s best schools.

Holbeck Urban Village

A trendy neighbourhood for young professionals
Average property price: £245,000

In the 18th century, Holbeck was still a small village outside of Leeds. It eventually became part of the city, and by the middle of the 19th century, it was right in the middle of everything. Holbeck is a pretty poor area of Leeds right now, but the Holbeck Urban Village is a part of it that has changed a lot in the past few years.

Along the canal, lots of new tech startups, bars, pubs, and restaurants have opened up, and the new apartments are very nice. Indie breweries like the ones near Granary Wharf are perfect examples of northern hipster culture.

Chapel Allerton

A characterful neighbourhood for all ages
Average property price: £255,622

Chapel Allerton is two miles northeast of the city center. It and York’s Bishopthorpe Road are both trying to be the “Notting Hill of the North.” It’s a village-like suburb with a mix of Victorian and modern homes, trendy bars and traditional pubs, shops and bookstores, and a lot of green space.

Locals love the row of independent shops on Harrogate Road, especially George & Joseph Cheesemongers, which came in second place in The Guild of Fine Food’s 2019 Shop of the Year Awards.

Things to do in Leeds

Leeds has a lot to offer, and the city is currently putting together a bid to become the European Capital of Culture in 2023. Here’s what we think are the best parts.

Cultural stuff

In 2017, the Times said that Leeds was the best place to live in Britain from a cultural point of view. This was even before London. The Northern Ballet, Opera North, and the West Yorkshire Playhouse are just a few of the well-known organisations in Leeds that offer entertainment all year long.

Millennium Square and Victoria Square, the city’s two main plazas, are right next to each other. The Leeds City Museum and the Leeds Art Gallery are each in one of these plazas. There’s also the Royal Armouries Museum, where you can see interesting things that used to be in the Tower of London.

Leeds is also very proud of its history in film and cinema. Did you know that Louis Le Prince made the world’s oldest surviving moving pictures in Leeds in 1888? Fans from all over the country come to the Leeds International Film Festival every year.

Great shopping

Leeds is a shopper’s dream. There are no less than eight indoor shopping malls there, and the main shopping street, Briggate, is pedestrian-only and has many arcades, some of which date back to the late 1800s.

In particular, the Victorian architect Frank Matcham made the Grade II-listed Grand Arcade, which is full of great shops that are not part of a chain. Rich marbles, gilded edges, and wrought iron arches are beautiful to look at and make you really want to spend money.

The impressive Victoria Gate opened in 2016, and at the MIPIM Awards in 2017, it was nominated for “Best Shopping Center in the World.” It has a big glass ceiling, and the biggest John Lewis store outside of London is there.

Leeds nightlife

There are a lot of things to do on a night out in Leeds. There are cosy speakeasy-style bars like The Domino, real nightclubs like Tunnel, serious music venues like Brudenell Social Club, classy wine bars like The Decanter, and a lot of charming pubs.

The oldest pub in Leeds is Whitelocks, which should be mentioned in any guide to the city. This old pub has been serving beer since 1715. It is traditional and friendly, if you can find the entrance down one of Briggate’s famous alleys.

Check out this guide for a longer list of Leeds’s best places to go out at night.

Roundhay Park

What used to be a place for mediaeval hunters to hunt is now one of the best things about Leeds. Since 1872, when Roundhay Park became a public park, nothing in Leeds has been able to beat it. At 700 acres, it is one of the biggest city parks in Europe. It has a lot of trees, lakes, gardens, and most importantly, space. There are also lots of interesting birds and butterflies in the park’s Tropical World (especially herons and woodpeckers).

If you like sports, Roundhay Park has just about everything you could want. In the park, there are football fields, tennis courts, a golf course, a skate park, bowling greens, canoe clubs, grass for running, and lakes for swimming.

Household goods & Personal Effects Shipping to Leeds from UAE

Trust the professionals at Baxter Shipping for quick, smart, and secure international removals. For a long time, our company has facilitated shipping from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the UAE to the United Kingdom. Packages sent to Leeds and other locations in the world can be delivered directly by our team of logistics specialists to the doorstep. Whether you need to take only a few personal belongings, ship a whole office overseas, a car or need everything in your home delivered quickly, we can accommodate your needs and ensure a smooth relocation.

Moving abroad requires a different approach than the typical packing, loading, and transporting. Any company sending household belongings or personal effects to Leeds must adhere to the strict criteria enforced by UK border officers and port inspection authority. With our years of experience in logistics, packing, and shipping, we were able to help create a system that reliably meets all of your deadlines. Whether you need to send a full household’s worth of belongings or just a few boxes, we at Baxter shipping provide the lowest possible shipping rates and flexible delivery schedules to meet your demands.

Get a quote International Shipping Quote to Leeds https://baxtershipping.com/quote/

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