Beeston, Leeds
Encyclopedia
Beeston is a suburb Leeds
, West Yorkshire
, England located about 2 miles (3km) south of the city centre. The area is separated from surrounding areas to the north, east and west by the M621 motorway
.
The origins of Beeston can be traced back to the medieval period. It remained a small settlement until the latter part of the Victorian era when it became a primarily residential area for people working in Leeds and surrounding industrial areas like Holbeck
and Hunslet
. More recently, it gained notoriety as the home of two of the July 7th bombers
.
Beeston has a population of about 20,000 people. Parts of the area, particularly around Beeston Hill to the north, suffer from relatively high levels of deprivation, while areas to the centre and south of the area are safer and more affluent. Beeston is home to Leeds United A.F.C.
and Hunslet Hawks
rugby league club.
as Bestone. The name seems to come from Old English *bēos 'bent-grass' (L. Agrostis
) and tūn 'estate, village', and the origin of the settlement is likely to be Anglo-Saxon.
The oldest buildings in Beeston today date to the Medieval Period. Cad Beeston manor house has been dated by dendochronology to about 1420, and is a grade II* listed building currently used as private offices with no public access. Parts of Stank Hall Barn, a grade II* listed scheduled ancient monument originally built for the storage of crops, have been dated to between 1448 and 1490. Between 1740 and 1820, the Leeds-Elland and Dewsbury-Leeds turnpike roads were built through Beeston; nationalised in the 1870s these roads remain through the area as Elland Road and Dewsbury Road respectively. Beeston was one of the chapelries of the ancient parish of Leeds, and in 1822 had a population of 1,670. By 1872, Beeston is recorded as having a population of 2,547 with 537 houses, a railway station and a post office
. Beeston was a township and civil parish 1866-1904, then was absorbed into Holbeck civil parish before this was absorbed into Leeds in 1925.
Up until the 19th century, Beeston was a small mining village situated on a hill overlooking Leeds. However, during the Industrial Revolution, land that had been occupied by open pits, as well as land formerly utilised for farming was snapped up for high density residential development. Beeston was formerly home to card and board game manufacturer Waddingtons
, though the factory was vacated in the 1990s and is now home to Nampak Cartons.
On the night of 14 March and early hours of 15 March 1941, Leeds received its worst night of Luftwaffe
bombing. Beeston had more bombs dropped on it than any other district of the city and although Flaxton Terrace was damaged during the night time air raid
, escaped with the less damage than most other areas of Leeds with nearly all the other bombs landing on Cross Flatts Park. In his 2005 poem 'Shrapnel' poet Tony Harrison
, who was in Beeston on the night of the raid, speculates whether this was an act of heroism by the Luftwaffe pilot, a theory that has been explored ever since the raid.
Beeston is an inner-city area located close to Leeds city centre. Beeston is severed from the areas to the north by the M621 motorway
. Beeston is separated from Middleton
by Middleton Park and from Cottingley
by the Leeds Outer Ring Road
.
Beeston can be described as three distinct areas. Beeston - Parkside and Cross Flatts area and Beeston Hill are separated by Cross Flatts Park which runs between Dewsbury Road and Town Street: Beeston Hill to the east, and Parkside and Cross Flatts to the west. The distinction between these two areas has probably existed since medival times when they were two separate manors. Beeston - Elland Road and Millshaw is primarily industrial and centred around Elland Road to the west of the area.
store and a number of smaller shops. Housing in this part of Beeston is made up of almost equal proportions of late Victorian and early 20th Century terraced housing to the east of Old Lane, and newer semi-detached family and housing association properties to the west. To the south side of Dewsbury Road, there are significant areas of industrial premises.
Indicators for health, economic activity and community safety in this area are broadly consistent with averages for the City of Leeds as a whole.
scheme to build 700 private and housing association dwellings and regenerate some existing stock was announced. As a particularly deprived area, Beeston Hill along with Holbeck
was the beneficiary of Objective 2 European funding. Beeston Hill has a relatively high level of empty housing as well as a number of significant unoccupied commercial premises, such as the former Malvern public house. Beeston Hill has a significant ethnic minority population, with around 40% of the population from BME Communities.
The area suffers from a high level of deprivation, with indicators for health, economic activity and community safety substantially worse than for the City of Leeds as a whole.
and London Kings Cross and London St Pancras run. However, there are no stations along it as Beeston station closed to passengers in 1953. Beeston is served by a number of bus services along Dewsbury Road, Elland Road and Town Street. The frequent No 1 bus service, operated by First Leeds largely follows the route of the former Leeds Tramway
route 5 through Beeston and Beeston Hill. Beeston is severed from Leeds by the M621 and therefore benefits from very good links with the M621
motoray, as well as the M62
which runs close to Beeston to the south of Morley. There are a several taxi companies operating in the Beeston area, while there are proposals to create a park-and-ride site at Elland Road.
, Tingley
and many of the business districts along the south side of the River Aire
. The neighbouring White Rose Shopping Centre employs thousands of full- and part-time staff.
School of Mechanics situated towards the south side, and the Beeston Centre of the Leeds City College
(formerly Joseph Priestley College
). Beeston has one secondary school, Cockburn School which is a specialist arts college. Matthew Murray High School situated between Beeston and Holbeck
recently closed down and was merged with Merlyn Rees High School in Belle Isle
, to form South Leeds High School in Belle Isle. In September 2009 South Leeds High School was reopened as The South Leeds Academy, making it one of the newest of the UK Government's education academies Academy (English school). There are seven primary schools in the area.
stadium and the John Charles Centre for Sport
. Leeds city centre is a short distance away and the M1
and M62
motorways are easily accessed. Cross Flatts Park has many facilities, which include 5-a-side football pitches, tennis courts, two separate play areas one for older children and one for younger children and a bowling green.
, home of Leeds United AFC has a 39,640 capacity, all-seater stadium on Elland Road, adjacent to the M621
in the north of Beeston. The South Leeds Stadium, part of the John Charles Centre for Sport
is situated on Middleton Grove (off Dewsbury Road) on the southern edge of Beeston. This is home to Hunslet Hawks
rugby league club, as well as hosting athletics and aquatic sports in the new Aquatic Centre (the replacement for the Leeds International Swimming Pool) which opened in October 2008 and provides an Olympic standard swimming pool and diving pool. The centre also has indoor bowling, indoor Tennis Centre, athletics stadium, rugby pitches and 5-a-side pitches.
(17.8 hectares
) in the centre of Beeston. While the park formerly suffered from neglect and had a high crime rate, through the work of the Council and community groups such as Friends of Cross Flatts Park and Beeston in Bloom
the park has been cleaned up and made safer and more welcoming.
The park has a large multi-use games area which includes five-a-side football
pitches, basketball
courts and tennis
courts, while the park boasts an artificial cricket
pitch, a children's play area and outdoor gym equipment. The park is the venue for the Beeston Festival which takes place annually in June, and in summer and school holidays is host to numerous activities for young people.
(21 shillings).
Henry Rowland Marsden
, the Victorian industrialist and former mayor of Leeds, is buried in Holbeck Cemetery where his family grave is marked by a Grade II-listed memorial.
The poem V by Tony Harrison
, written in 1985, describes a visit to Holbeck Cemetery.
The development, which includes 172 homes, office space and other facilities is one of the UK's first low-carbon housing developments and incorporates wind turbines, solar panels and ground source heating as well as energy efficient materials and rainwater and grey water recycling. The development has won a large number of awards, including, in 2011, the Regeneration and Renewal Magazine Regeneration Award for Sustainability, with judges praising the holistic way it addressed sustainability and provides real regeneration benefits to a deprived area.
, Roman Catholic, Methodist
and Baptist
. The Anglican churches of St Mary on Town Street and St Luke on Malvern Road were constructed in the 1870s, though the former is on the site of a much older church. The more modern church of St David Waincliffe on Dewsbury Road, constructed in the 1960s was designed by Geoffrey Davy and won a Hoffman Wood (Leeds) Gold Medal for Architecture.
There are three mosques in Beeston, all located within the Beeston Hill area.
of Leeds City Council
. It is currently represented by three Labour
councillors:
Parts of Beeston Hill to the north of Cross Flatts Park are located within the City and Holbeck Ward which is also currently represented by three Labour councillors:
Hilary Benn
(Labour) has been MP
since 1999
when he won the seat following the death of Derek Fatchett
who had been MP for Leeds Central
since 1983
. Prior to the 1997 general election
, Beeston was part of the Morley and Leeds South constituency, represented from its creation in 1983
to 1992
by Merlyn Rees and from 1992 to 1997 by John Gunnell
. Before the creation of the Morley and South Leeds constituency the area was part of the Leeds South constituency
represented until 1963 by Hugh Gaitskell
, leader of the Labour
Party from 1955 to his death in 1963, after whom a primary school in the area is named.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
for Yorkshire and the Humber European Parliament constituency
since the European Parliament election, 2009
, are Godfrey Bloom
(UK Independence Party), Andrew Brons
(BNP
), Timothy Kirkhope
(Conservative), Linda McAvan
(Labour), Edward McMillan-Scott
(Liberal Democrat
), and Diana Wallis
(Liberal Democrat).
attended Cockburn High School in Beeston as did the academic and author of The Uses of Literacy
, Richard Hoggart
. More recently, the actress Holly Kenny
who starred in the BBC
drama serial Waterloo Road
was a pupil at the school.
The musician and bandleader Ivy Benson
grew up in Beeston, where her former house on Cemetery Road is marked with a blue plaque
.
Former international rugby league
and rugby union
star Jason Robinson
went to Cross Flatts Park Middle School and Matthew Murray High School, and began his Rugby League career with Hunslet Hawks.
, a significant amount of explosive material was found in the raids and a controlled explosion was carried out at one of the properties.
and Japan
arriving in the area to cover the reaction to the events of the previous week. The tone of the reporting was mixed, some sypathetic to the area, many even describing Beeston as a 'leafy suburb', whereas others painted a less salubrious picture of Beeston.
The Guardian
Writing a year after the bombings, a journalist from The Guardian
visited Beeston with the aim of going "beyond the stereotypical pictures of veiled women and bearded men strolling past dilapidated buildings." The article reported that the community in Beeston had on the whole condemned the attacks.
NBC
American news network NBC
described Beeston as "a drab and derelict neighborhood in Leeds, three hours north of London, where three of the four London suicide bombers were born and raised". The article later stated, "Beeston, a poor racially mixed community, is lined with small row houses built in another era to house the factory workers who were one of the cornerstones of the British industry. The neighborhood has long accommodated immigrant communities — from Asia in the 1960’s to Eastern Europe and Africa today. Reportedly, almost half the households now are on some sort of state assistance."
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times
described Beeston as an "ethnically mixed, downtrodden suburb". Setting the scene, it also said "Peeping from lacy curtains in red-brick rowhouses, tattoed white men, turbaned Sikhs and olive-skinned women in gauzy headscarves shared what they knew."
International Herald Tribune
One year after the London Bombings, the International Herald Tribune
described Beeston as a "grim northern neighbourhood". The paper also said "It is a poor and racially mixed neighborhood of back-to-back row houses with a population of just a few thousand where successive waves of immigrants from Asia in the 1960s, and now from East Europe and Africa, have spread a tangled overlay on a cityscape forged in Victorian Britain. The bright pink and turquoise saris
of Asian women offer chromatic relief from drab brick homes".
The Socialist Worker
The Socialist Worker
focused on Beeston's positive aspect and reported on the 'Beeston United for Peace' vigil, organised by Beeston members of the Stop the War Coalition
. The 150 strong march from Hyde Park
was also covered.
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England located about 2 miles (3km) south of the city centre. The area is separated from surrounding areas to the north, east and west by the M621 motorway
M621 motorway
The M621 motorway is a short loop of motorway in England that takes traffic into central Leeds between the M1 and M62 motorways. It is the second longest motorway in the United Kingdom to carry a three digit number although it carries more junctions than any other three digit motorway within the...
.
The origins of Beeston can be traced back to the medieval period. It remained a small settlement until the latter part of the Victorian era when it became a primarily residential area for people working in Leeds and surrounding industrial areas like Holbeck
Holbeck
Holbeck is a district in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.The district begins on the southern edge of the Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 Leeds postcode area. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the only motorway that passes through the area since...
and Hunslet
Hunslet
Hunslet is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is south east of the city centre and has an industrial past.Hunslet had many engineering companies based in the district, such as John Fowler & Co...
. More recently, it gained notoriety as the home of two of the July 7th bombers
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
.
Beeston has a population of about 20,000 people. Parts of the area, particularly around Beeston Hill to the north, suffer from relatively high levels of deprivation, while areas to the centre and south of the area are safer and more affluent. Beeston is home to Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
and Hunslet Hawks
Hunslet Hawks
Hunslet Hawks is a professional rugby league club based in Hunslet, West Yorkshire, England. The club, sometimes known as 'the Parksiders' after their former stadium, are currently champions of Championship One.-History:-Early years:...
rugby league club.
History
Beeston is first mentioned in the 1086 Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Bestone. The name seems to come from Old English *bēos 'bent-grass' (L. Agrostis
Agrostis
Agrostis is a genus of over 100 species belonging to the grass family Poaceae, commonly referred to as the bent grasses...
) and tūn 'estate, village', and the origin of the settlement is likely to be Anglo-Saxon.
The oldest buildings in Beeston today date to the Medieval Period. Cad Beeston manor house has been dated by dendochronology to about 1420, and is a grade II* listed building currently used as private offices with no public access. Parts of Stank Hall Barn, a grade II* listed scheduled ancient monument originally built for the storage of crops, have been dated to between 1448 and 1490. Between 1740 and 1820, the Leeds-Elland and Dewsbury-Leeds turnpike roads were built through Beeston; nationalised in the 1870s these roads remain through the area as Elland Road and Dewsbury Road respectively. Beeston was one of the chapelries of the ancient parish of Leeds, and in 1822 had a population of 1,670. By 1872, Beeston is recorded as having a population of 2,547 with 537 houses, a railway station and a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
. Beeston was a township and civil parish 1866-1904, then was absorbed into Holbeck civil parish before this was absorbed into Leeds in 1925.
Up until the 19th century, Beeston was a small mining village situated on a hill overlooking Leeds. However, during the Industrial Revolution, land that had been occupied by open pits, as well as land formerly utilised for farming was snapped up for high density residential development. Beeston was formerly home to card and board game manufacturer Waddingtons
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was a publisher of card and board games in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and Wilson Barratt, under the name Waddingtons Limited...
, though the factory was vacated in the 1990s and is now home to Nampak Cartons.
On the night of 14 March and early hours of 15 March 1941, Leeds received its worst night of Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
bombing. Beeston had more bombs dropped on it than any other district of the city and although Flaxton Terrace was damaged during the night time air raid
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
, escaped with the less damage than most other areas of Leeds with nearly all the other bombs landing on Cross Flatts Park. In his 2005 poem 'Shrapnel' poet Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison is an English poet and playwright. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem V and Fram, as well as his versions of ancient Greek tragedies, including the Oresteia and Hecuba...
, who was in Beeston on the night of the raid, speculates whether this was an act of heroism by the Luftwaffe pilot, a theory that has been explored ever since the raid.
Geography and demographics
M621 motorway
The M621 motorway is a short loop of motorway in England that takes traffic into central Leeds between the M1 and M62 motorways. It is the second longest motorway in the United Kingdom to carry a three digit number although it carries more junctions than any other three digit motorway within the...
. Beeston is separated from Middleton
Middleton, Leeds
Middleton is a suburb of Leeds south of Leeds city centre, West Yorkshire, England. It originated as an agricultural and pit village in south Leeds and is mentioned as Mildentone and Mildetone village in the 1086 Domesday Book....
by Middleton Park and from Cottingley
Cottingley, Leeds
Cottingley is an urban area in the south-west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.Most of Cottingley is a 1960s council estate. The two tower blocks situated on a hill at the centre of the estate are Leeds's tallest flats. In the 1980s, these were in a poor condition, and had particular problems...
by the Leeds Outer Ring Road
Leeds Outer Ring Road
The Leeds Outer Ring Road is a main road that runs around most of the perimeter of the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The ring road is approximately long and consists of single and dual carriageways....
.
Beeston can be described as three distinct areas. Beeston - Parkside and Cross Flatts area and Beeston Hill are separated by Cross Flatts Park which runs between Dewsbury Road and Town Street: Beeston Hill to the east, and Parkside and Cross Flatts to the west. The distinction between these two areas has probably existed since medival times when they were two separate manors. Beeston - Elland Road and Millshaw is primarily industrial and centred around Elland Road to the west of the area.
Beeston - Parkside and Cross Flatts area
The Parkside and Cross Flatts area of Beeston, sometimes locally known as Beeston Village, is centred around a shopping centre comprising a Co-operativeThe Co-operative Food
The Co-operative Food, abbreviated sometimes to the Co-op, is a brand devised for the supermarket and convenience store business of the UK's consumers' co-operative movement. It is the name of the largest division of The Co-operative Group, and is used by other independent consumer co-operatives...
store and a number of smaller shops. Housing in this part of Beeston is made up of almost equal proportions of late Victorian and early 20th Century terraced housing to the east of Old Lane, and newer semi-detached family and housing association properties to the west. To the south side of Dewsbury Road, there are significant areas of industrial premises.
Indicators for health, economic activity and community safety in this area are broadly consistent with averages for the City of Leeds as a whole.
Beeston Hill area
Beeston Hill is largely made up of areas of older Victoria terraces and newer social housing, which comprises around a third of the housing stock in the area. In April 2008, a £93 million PFIPrivate Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...
scheme to build 700 private and housing association dwellings and regenerate some existing stock was announced. As a particularly deprived area, Beeston Hill along with Holbeck
Holbeck
Holbeck is a district in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.The district begins on the southern edge of the Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 Leeds postcode area. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the only motorway that passes through the area since...
was the beneficiary of Objective 2 European funding. Beeston Hill has a relatively high level of empty housing as well as a number of significant unoccupied commercial premises, such as the former Malvern public house. Beeston Hill has a significant ethnic minority population, with around 40% of the population from BME Communities.
The area suffers from a high level of deprivation, with indicators for health, economic activity and community safety substantially worse than for the City of Leeds as a whole.
Beeston - Elland Road and Millshaw Area
The west of Beeston around Elland Road has significant amounts of industrial estates, with a substantial amount of mainly semi-detached and terraced housing to the western edge of the Parkside and Cross Flatts area.Transport
Beeston has a mainline railway line running along its Western edge along which all services between Leeds City railway stationLeeds City railway station
Leeds railway station is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England...
and London Kings Cross and London St Pancras run. However, there are no stations along it as Beeston station closed to passengers in 1953. Beeston is served by a number of bus services along Dewsbury Road, Elland Road and Town Street. The frequent No 1 bus service, operated by First Leeds largely follows the route of the former Leeds Tramway
Leeds Tramway
Leeds Corporation Tramways formerly served the city of Leeds, England. The original trams were horse-drawn, however by 1901 electrification had been completed. The tramway opened on 29 October 1891-Routes:...
route 5 through Beeston and Beeston Hill. Beeston is severed from Leeds by the M621 and therefore benefits from very good links with the M621
M621 motorway
The M621 motorway is a short loop of motorway in England that takes traffic into central Leeds between the M1 and M62 motorways. It is the second longest motorway in the United Kingdom to carry a three digit number although it carries more junctions than any other three digit motorway within the...
motoray, as well as the M62
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
which runs close to Beeston to the south of Morley. There are a several taxi companies operating in the Beeston area, while there are proposals to create a park-and-ride site at Elland Road.
Economy
Much of Beeston's traditional heavy industry and fabrication works have closed throughout the last forty years. However, there are substantial areas of industrial and commercial development around Elland Road and to the south of Dewsbury Road and Beeston is surrounded by areas which have become popular with businesses, such as Leeds city centreLeeds City Centre
Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...
, Tingley
Tingley
Tingley is a settlement in West Yorkshire, England, forming part of the parish of West Ardsley and of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough.It is situated midway between Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford but is considered part of Morley...
and many of the business districts along the south side of the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
. The neighbouring White Rose Shopping Centre employs thousands of full- and part-time staff.
Education
Beeston is home to the Leeds College of TechnologyLeeds College of Technology
Leeds College of Technology was a further education college in Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. With a strong technical bias, the College supported the computing, engineering, social care and transport industries...
School of Mechanics situated towards the south side, and the Beeston Centre of the Leeds City College
Leeds City College
Leeds City College is the largest Further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with around 57,000 students, 2,300 staff and an annual turnover of £78 million. It officially opened on 1 April 2009...
(formerly Joseph Priestley College
Joseph Priestley College
Joseph Priestley College was a further education college founded in 1955 serving the communities of South Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was named after Joseph Priestley, the famous scientist and co-discoverer of oxygen who was born nearby...
). Beeston has one secondary school, Cockburn School which is a specialist arts college. Matthew Murray High School situated between Beeston and Holbeck
Holbeck
Holbeck is a district in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.The district begins on the southern edge of the Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 Leeds postcode area. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the only motorway that passes through the area since...
recently closed down and was merged with Merlyn Rees High School in Belle Isle
Belle Isle, Leeds
Belle Isle is a large suburb south of Leeds city centre, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded to the north and east by the M621 motorway.The district lies in the LS10 Leeds postcode area...
, to form South Leeds High School in Belle Isle. In September 2009 South Leeds High School was reopened as The South Leeds Academy, making it one of the newest of the UK Government's education academies Academy (English school). There are seven primary schools in the area.
Local facilities and attractions
Beeston has a range of facilities. It has two large health centres, Elland RoadElland Road
Elland Road is an all-seater football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has been the permanent residence of Leeds United A.F.C...
stadium and the John Charles Centre for Sport
John Charles Centre for Sport
The John Charles Centre for Sport is a sports facility in South Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was previously named the South Leeds Stadium and was renamed to honour John Charles , the former Leeds United, Juventus F.C. and Wales footballer...
. Leeds city centre is a short distance away and the M1
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
and M62
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
motorways are easily accessed. Cross Flatts Park has many facilities, which include 5-a-side football pitches, tennis courts, two separate play areas one for older children and one for younger children and a bowling green.
Stadia
Beeston is home to two stadiums. Elland RoadElland Road
Elland Road is an all-seater football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has been the permanent residence of Leeds United A.F.C...
, home of Leeds United AFC has a 39,640 capacity, all-seater stadium on Elland Road, adjacent to the M621
M621 motorway
The M621 motorway is a short loop of motorway in England that takes traffic into central Leeds between the M1 and M62 motorways. It is the second longest motorway in the United Kingdom to carry a three digit number although it carries more junctions than any other three digit motorway within the...
in the north of Beeston. The South Leeds Stadium, part of the John Charles Centre for Sport
John Charles Centre for Sport
The John Charles Centre for Sport is a sports facility in South Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was previously named the South Leeds Stadium and was renamed to honour John Charles , the former Leeds United, Juventus F.C. and Wales footballer...
is situated on Middleton Grove (off Dewsbury Road) on the southern edge of Beeston. This is home to Hunslet Hawks
Hunslet Hawks
Hunslet Hawks is a professional rugby league club based in Hunslet, West Yorkshire, England. The club, sometimes known as 'the Parksiders' after their former stadium, are currently champions of Championship One.-History:-Early years:...
rugby league club, as well as hosting athletics and aquatic sports in the new Aquatic Centre (the replacement for the Leeds International Swimming Pool) which opened in October 2008 and provides an Olympic standard swimming pool and diving pool. The centre also has indoor bowling, indoor Tennis Centre, athletics stadium, rugby pitches and 5-a-side pitches.
Cross Flatts Park
Cross Flatts Park covers an area of 44 acresAcre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(17.8 hectares
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
) in the centre of Beeston. While the park formerly suffered from neglect and had a high crime rate, through the work of the Council and community groups such as Friends of Cross Flatts Park and Beeston in Bloom
Britain in Bloom
RHS Britain in Bloom, supported by Anglian Home Improvements, is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It was first held in 1963, initiated by the British Tourist Board based on the example set by Fleurissement de France. It has been organised by the Royal Horticultural Society ...
the park has been cleaned up and made safer and more welcoming.
The park has a large multi-use games area which includes five-a-side football
Five-a-side football
thumb|240px|alt=Men playing football on artificial grass pitch.|Five-a-side game on astroturf pitch.Five-a-side football is a variation of association football in which each team fields five players , rather than the usual eleven on each team. Other differences from football include a smaller...
pitches, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
courts and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
courts, while the park boasts an artificial cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
pitch, a children's play area and outdoor gym equipment. The park is the venue for the Beeston Festival which takes place annually in June, and in summer and school holidays is host to numerous activities for young people.
Holbeck Cemetery
Holbeck Cemetery in Beeston opened in 1857 and closed to general burials in the 1940s. During the period it was operational, thousands of people were buried there with many in 'guinea graves' with several unrelated people buried in the same plot. The graves were so called for the shared headstones on which a single-line inscription cost one guineaGuinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
(21 shillings).
Henry Rowland Marsden
Henry Rowland Marsden
Henry Rowland Marsden was a philanthropist and Mayor of Leeds for 1873 to 1875, said to be the most popular Victorian mayor of Leeds....
, the Victorian industrialist and former mayor of Leeds, is buried in Holbeck Cemetery where his family grave is marked by a Grade II-listed memorial.
The poem V by Tony Harrison
V (poem)
V is a poem by Tony Harrison written in 1985. The poem aroused much controversy when broadcast in film version on Channel 4.-Premise and setting:...
, written in 1985, describes a visit to Holbeck Cemetery.
Greenhouse
In 2008 Shaftesbury House, a derelict working men's hostel designed for the council by George C. Robb in 1936, was converted by Citu to the Greenhouse, an eco-friendly housing project. The building had been empty for a number of years and had previously been earmarked for demonlition.The development, which includes 172 homes, office space and other facilities is one of the UK's first low-carbon housing developments and incorporates wind turbines, solar panels and ground source heating as well as energy efficient materials and rainwater and grey water recycling. The development has won a large number of awards, including, in 2011, the Regeneration and Renewal Magazine Regeneration Award for Sustainability, with judges praising the holistic way it addressed sustainability and provides real regeneration benefits to a deprived area.
Religious Sites
Beeston has at least ten churches of several denominations including Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, Roman Catholic, Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
and Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
. The Anglican churches of St Mary on Town Street and St Luke on Malvern Road were constructed in the 1870s, though the former is on the site of a much older church. The more modern church of St David Waincliffe on Dewsbury Road, constructed in the 1960s was designed by Geoffrey Davy and won a Hoffman Wood (Leeds) Gold Medal for Architecture.
There are three mosques in Beeston, all located within the Beeston Hill area.
Government
Most parts of Beeston are located within the Beeston and Holbeck WardWards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
of Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
. It is currently represented by three Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
councillors:
- Angela Gabriel (elected to serve until 2012),
- David Congreve (elected to serve until 2014), and
- Adam Ogilvie (elected 2011).
Parts of Beeston Hill to the north of Cross Flatts Park are located within the City and Holbeck Ward which is also currently represented by three Labour councillors:
- Elizabeth Nash (elected to serve until 2012),
- Mohammed Iqbal (elected to serve until 2014), and
- Patrick Davey (elected 2011)..
Hilary Benn
Hilary Benn
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leeds Central since 1999. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2003 to 2007 and as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs...
(Labour) has been MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
since 1999
Leeds Central by-election, 1999
The Member of Parliament for Leeds Central, the Rt. Hon. Derek Fatchett, died suddenly on 9 May 1999. The Labour Party rushed to organise for the by-election and moved the writ so that the election could be held on 10 June, the same day as elections to the European Parliament.The shortlist for the...
when he won the seat following the death of Derek Fatchett
Derek Fatchett
Derek John Fatchett PC, QC, FRS was a British politician. He became member of Parliament for Leeds Central in 1983 and was a member of the Labour Party.-Early life:...
who had been MP for Leeds Central
Leeds Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Leeds Central is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
since 1983
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
. Prior to the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, Beeston was part of the Morley and Leeds South constituency, represented from its creation in 1983
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
to 1992
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
by Merlyn Rees and from 1992 to 1997 by John Gunnell
John Gunnell
William John Gunnell was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.-Early life:He was born in Birmingham, and educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham. He gained a BSc in General Studies in 1955, and a PGCE in 1958 from the University of Leeds...
. Before the creation of the Morley and South Leeds constituency the area was part of the Leeds South constituency
Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)
Leeds South was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election...
represented until 1963 by Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...
, leader of the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Party from 1955 to his death in 1963, after whom a primary school in the area is named.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
for Yorkshire and the Humber European Parliament constituency
Yorkshire and the Humber (European Parliament constituency)
Yorkshire and the Humber is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
since the European Parliament election, 2009
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
, are Godfrey Bloom
Godfrey Bloom
Godfrey Bloom is a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the United Kingdom Independence Party...
(UK Independence Party), Andrew Brons
Andrew Brons
Andrew Henry William Brons is a British politician. Long active in far right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the British National Party at the 2009 European Parliament election...
(BNP
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
), Timothy Kirkhope
Timothy Kirkhope
Timothy John Robert Kirkhope is a British lawyer and politician, currently serving as Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the Conservative Party. After serving for ten years as Member of Parliament for Leeds North East, he was first elected to the European Parliament...
(Conservative), Linda McAvan
Linda McAvan
Linda McAvan is a British Labour Party politician, who is a Member of the European Parliament for the Labour Party for Yorkshire and the Humber...
(Labour), Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward Hugh Christian McMillan-Scott is a British Member of the European Parliament and one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament...
(Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
), and Diana Wallis
Diana Wallis
Diana Paulette Wallis is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber. Wallis was first elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and in 2009....
(Liberal Democrat).
Notable people
The playwright Willis HallWillis Hall
Willis Hall was an English playwright and radio and television writer who drew on his working class roots in Leeds for much of his writings....
attended Cockburn High School in Beeston as did the academic and author of The Uses of Literacy
The Uses of Literacy
The Uses of Literacy has been described as a key book in the history of English and Media Studies and in the founding of Cultural Studies. -Massification of Culture:...
, Richard Hoggart
Richard Hoggart
Herbert Richard Hoggart is a British academic and public figure, whose career has covered the fields of sociology, English literature and cultural studies, with a special concern for British popular culture.-Career:...
. More recently, the actress Holly Kenny
Holly Kenny
Holly Kenny is a British actress, best known for playing Sambuca Kelly in the BBC1 drama Waterloo Road.- Personal life :...
who starred in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama serial Waterloo Road
Waterloo Road (TV series)
Waterloo Road is an award-winning British television drama series, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 March 2006. Set in a troubled comprehensive school in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the series focuses on the lives of the school's teacher and students, and confronts social...
was a pupil at the school.
The musician and bandleader Ivy Benson
Ivy Benson
Ivy Benson was an English musician and bandleader, who led an all-female swing band. Benson and her band rose to fame in the 1940s, headlining variety theatres and topping the bill at the London Palladium, and became the BBC's resident house band.-Early years:Benson was born on 11 November 1913 in...
grew up in Beeston, where her former house on Cemetery Road is marked with a blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
.
Former international rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
and rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
star Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson
Jason Thorpe Robinson OBE is an English former international rugby union and rugby league player of the 1990s and 2000s. Playing at wing or fullback, he won fifty-one rugby union international test caps in total for England, and in rugby league he won twelve caps for Great Britain and seven for...
went to Cross Flatts Park Middle School and Matthew Murray High School, and began his Rugby League career with Hunslet Hawks.
London bombings
Beeston was the focus of press attention following the 7 July 2005 London bombings when it was revealed that two of the four bombers had lived in the area. On 12 July, two properties in Beeston were raided by police in connection with the attacks. According to West Yorkshire PoliceWest Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....
, a significant amount of explosive material was found in the raids and a controlled explosion was carried out at one of the properties.
After-effects
The link between the 7th July bombings and Beeston became known several days after the event took place. When news began to emerge of the Beeston link to the attacks, community and religious groups from across Beeston came together to condemn the atrocities,. There was a significant pulling together of people across the community with two Beeston Together for Peace marches being held. Each were joined by hundreds of people, some as the procession passed. The second procession ended at Millennium Square in Leeds city centre, uniting with people from other parts of Leeds for an interfaith vigil.Beeston in the Press
Following the London press, Beeston was thrust into the local, regional, national and international press, with journalists from as far away as North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
arriving in the area to cover the reaction to the events of the previous week. The tone of the reporting was mixed, some sypathetic to the area, many even describing Beeston as a 'leafy suburb', whereas others painted a less salubrious picture of Beeston.
The Guardian
Writing a year after the bombings, a journalist from The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
visited Beeston with the aim of going "beyond the stereotypical pictures of veiled women and bearded men strolling past dilapidated buildings." The article reported that the community in Beeston had on the whole condemned the attacks.
NBC
American news network NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
described Beeston as "a drab and derelict neighborhood in Leeds, three hours north of London, where three of the four London suicide bombers were born and raised". The article later stated, "Beeston, a poor racially mixed community, is lined with small row houses built in another era to house the factory workers who were one of the cornerstones of the British industry. The neighborhood has long accommodated immigrant communities — from Asia in the 1960’s to Eastern Europe and Africa today. Reportedly, almost half the households now are on some sort of state assistance."
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
described Beeston as an "ethnically mixed, downtrodden suburb". Setting the scene, it also said "Peeping from lacy curtains in red-brick rowhouses, tattoed white men, turbaned Sikhs and olive-skinned women in gauzy headscarves shared what they knew."
International Herald Tribune
One year after the London Bombings, the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
described Beeston as a "grim northern neighbourhood". The paper also said "It is a poor and racially mixed neighborhood of back-to-back row houses with a population of just a few thousand where successive waves of immigrants from Asia in the 1960s, and now from East Europe and Africa, have spread a tangled overlay on a cityscape forged in Victorian Britain. The bright pink and turquoise saris
Saris
Saris was a Palestinian Arab village that was depopulated during the major offensive launched by the Haganah on 6 April 1948. Called Operation Nachshon, and launched before the British had left Palestine, its objective was to capture villages between Jerusalem and the coastal plain.-History:During...
of Asian women offer chromatic relief from drab brick homes".
The Socialist Worker
The Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
focused on Beeston's positive aspect and reported on the 'Beeston United for Peace' vigil, organised by Beeston members of the Stop the War Coalition
Stop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
. The 150 strong march from Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Leeds
Hyde Park is an inner-city area of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the University of Leeds and Headingley.It is mainly in the Hyde Park & Woodhouse ward, though some areas of what is often considered to be Hyde Park lie within the Headingley Ward . The boundary is...
was also covered.