Little London, Leeds
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Coordinates: 53°48′27″N 1°32′26″W / 53.8075°N 1.5406°W
| Little London | |
 Little London on an Evening |
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 Little London
Little London shown within West Yorkshire |
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| Metropolitan borough | City of Leeds |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan county | West Yorkshire |
| Region | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LEEDS |
| Postcode district | LS7 |
| Dialling code | 0113 |
| Police | West Yorkshire |
| Fire | West Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| UK Parliament | Leeds Central |
| List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire | |
Little London, along with its adjacent areas Lovell Park and Blenheim, is an area of 1960s high-rise and maisonette council housing in inner-city north Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the city centre and Sheepscar.
It is home to a small population of students, although nowhere near as many as the more popular student areas such as Headingley, Woodhouse, or Hyde Park.
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[edit] Description
It has a brand new Children's Centre called ' Little London Children's Centre ' designed by Leeds Architects Bauman Lyons.
Little London will almost certainly become swallowed up by the ever expanding city centre. There are flats going up all around the area and there are plans in place to demolish the area surrounding Carlton Barracks to make way for more flats.
The 1960s-built council flats, stand high at around fifteen storeys, however they are now dwarfed by new private developments exceeding 20 storeys.
The 1960s council housing in the lower parts of Little London originally housed many of the people from nearby Woodhouse, where there was large scale demolition and slum clearance. The Woodhouse residents were originally going to be dispersed around Leeds but after a prolonged battle with the council, they won the right to move the short distance to the new Holborn Estate.
There are currently plans to demolish the housing in Little London (which is largely 1960s and 1980s built council housing). This will leave only the high rise flats which would be privatised, and sold on. There is criticism that these flats will be luxury, high specification flats that current residents will not be able to afford.[1] This led to graffiti in the area stating 'Hands off our Homes' and 'Yuppies Out'. The campaign and debate with Leeds City Council is ongoing. The three Lovell tower blocks were saved from demolition and are currently undergoing work to raise standards to decency standard. The rest of the estate wait for a PFI scheme to finance refurbishment.
Tenants' groups have accused the council of benefiting wealthy city workers and property developers at their expense, while Leeds City Council have accused left wing activists of misusing the campaign.[2]
The area has a small shopping precinct with an Off Licence and various other shops. The areas most notable public house, The Londoner (formerly The Little Londoner) closed in 2005 and was demolished in 2006, there is now a building exceeding 20 stories on the site of the former pub. This now leaves just two pubs, The Hobby Horse and The Leeds Rifleman. The Post Office closed in August 2008, despite a public campaign to save it.
The area backs onto the Sheepscar Interchange (a major road interchange between the A61 towards Harrogate and the A58 towards Wetherby) and the Leeds Inner Ring Road. The Merrion Centre is also nearby.
[edit] Crime
The area did have a bad reputation. However in recent years crime in the area has fallen. Problem tenants have been moved elsewhere and ASBOs have been issued. This has cut drug dealing (which had become particularly problematic on and around Blackman Lane) and associated crime.[3] The area was described as a haven for drug dealers in 2003.[4]
[edit] Depopulation
Over the last few years Leeds City Council have began moving residents out of homes. Two blocks of Carlton Towers are now completely uninhabited as are several smaller blocks of flats. This hasn't as yet affected the Lovell Park area of Little London. One block of Carlton Towers has now been fenced off. As yet the depopulation hasn't affected many businesses in the Little London area, with only the bookmakers having closed recently. The depopulation of the area has freed many on-street car parking spaces, some of which are being used by those visiting and working in the city centre. The Lovell Park estate is noticeably the least run-down of the areas of Little London, perhaps due to the increase in population on the Lovell Park estate following the building of high-rise student accommodations on the opposite side of Lovell Park Road from the council flats.
[edit] Amenities
Little London has few amenities in itself, there are two pubs, the Leeds Rifleman and the Hobby Horse in Lovell Park (the Londoner closed down and has since been demolished). There is a corner shop in Lovell Park and a parade of shops situated further north with a taxi office, hairdressers and several other shops. The close proximity of Leeds city centre, in particularly the Merrion Centre negates the need for many services to be situated on the estates of Little London. The growing student population of the Lovell Park area may in the future stimulate new amenities to be built.
[edit] Notable people associated with Little London, Leeds
- Will Scott (1893−1964), author born at 128 Camp Road (now demolished and re-named Oatland Lane)
- Frank Percy Wild, (1861–1950), artist,was born at 50 Camp Road
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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| Leeds city centre |
