l e e d s : w h a t ' s h a p p e n e d ? !
"Leeds is becoming a centre
for overpriced, corporate entertainment outlets that are more
about grabbing your cash than providing a useful
social function" A Spire
'The Knightsbridge of the North',
'the North's Milan' - a fantastic rebirth thanks to house music,
gay-friendly venues and trendy bars... Or a mecca for low-paid
call centre jobs, arcades full of expensive designer-wear and
'nitespots' where Asian students get attacked by footballers?
However you'd describe it, Leeds has definitely changed.
In lots of ways it's for the better:
the city centre looks more inviting - pedestrianised, cleaned-up
buildings, a real choice of bars and clubs - thanks to the relaxation
of licensing restrictions which have created almost a 24-hour
city. For the first time in years, there's a brightness about
the city centre - you can actually see the beauty of old buildings
like the Corn Exchange and the City Market. But at the same time
there are still lots of empty shops in concrete malls like the
St John's Centre.
It's not even as if Leeds was such
a fantastic place before its big makeover. Picture if you will
a city centre of dark buildings, dodgy pubs and boarded up shops. Change
even seemed to be good at first: less traffic, pleasant new bars,
the city centre turning more gay-friendly.
Culturally at this time, the city was on the up - leading the
country in clubs and house music. Maybe there's a link between
the cultural life of a place and gentrification... But now it's
all plastic - exclusive designer boutiques, Harvey Nichols,...
and tons of Big Issue sellers.
The rot can be traced back to the
establishment of First Direct and the move of the NHS Executive
and Benefits Agency headquarters to Leeds several years ago. They
seem to symbolise our times. First Direct was the first telephone
banking service and takes the form of a massive call centre just
south of the city centre. Its setting up in Leeds meant that the
McJob revolution was well underway before it reached other parts
of the country. Meanwhile, the Benefits Agency's role has been
to bring into Leeds the highly paid professionals who form the
prime customer group of the new exclusive shops and bars. The
Benefits Agency building, known locally as 'The Kremlin', has
also become a symbol for the new-look city of wealth with its
£100,000s wall hangings and its massive looming on the horizon
when arriving in the city.
"Leeds is one of the UK's
largest centres for telephone-based customer services. Call centres employ around 15,000 people in Leeds"
(Leeds City Council).
One of the things that sums it for
me the most is the content of the new Leeds magazines - full of
photographs of accountants attending balls and adverts for city
centre penthouses:
"Champagne and sparkling
conversation flowed freely at the opening of jewellry and gift
shop Links of London in the Victoria Quarter"
(Absolute Leeds)
"International property
agent Jone Lang Lasalle threw a champagne reception at Rascasse
to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the opening of its Leeds office"
(Leeds Life)
"Leeds' legal whizz-kids
invited us to their annual ball which took place at the Royal
Armouries"
(Leeds
Life)
On the train on the way into Leeds there's certainly no sign of the new city: houses boarded-up,
half-demolished buildings, roofs missing,... In fact, the place
seems to have become even more dilapidated than it used to be.
Similarly, to the north the student areas have become more and
more polarised between the rich students and the local residents
- burglar alarms, bars on the windows and metal grilles over the
front door are a prominent feature on most terraces The area around Hyde Park, which has a youth
unemployment rate of 21%, has been notoriously described as having
one of the highest crime rates in England. Award-winning journalist
Nick Davies described it as:
"the dark heart of
England... where theft, violence, drugs and intimidation have
unravelled the very fabric of a community"
According to figures from Leeds Development
Agency, 20,000 new jobs were created in Leeds during the 1980s.
Half of these were self-employed, making them 32,000 of the city's
workforce. The majority of these jobs were in the service sector
- an area not known for its high wages and career prospects. 10%
of the city's population now work in call centres for the likes
of Direct Line insurance, Green Flag, etc. Similarly, information
services research specialists Experian rank Leeds as 4th in the
UK as a retail centre - again, these jobs tend to be low paid
and part-time. So it's not surprising that, according to the Employment
Service, a fifth of jobs in Leeds Job Centres last year were temporary.
Hardly proof of a 'booming' city.
On the other side of the divide,
Leeds is now home to 180 law firms, making the city the largest
legal centre outside London. Following in the lawyers footsteps
are accountants and insurance companies, all of whose major companies
are represented in Leeds.
The latest trend is the redevelopment
of city centre buildings into luxury warehouse apartments - selling
for around £150,000 each... in what used to be the city's
red-light area. It's a pity everything's focused on the city centre
while areas just a mile out go on being ignored...
this is a good leeds page
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