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Leeds Library

1768 establishments in EnglandBuildings and structures completed in 1808Grade II* listed buildings in West YorkshireLeeds Blue PlaquesLibraries in West Yorkshire
Listed buildings in LeedsSubscribing libraries in the United KingdomSubscription libraries in EnglandUse British English from January 2019
The Leeds Library interior 1
The Leeds Library interior 1

The Leeds Library is the oldest surviving subscription library of its type in the UK. It was founded in 1768, following an advertisement placed in the Leeds Intelligencer earlier that year. The first secretary was Joseph Priestley. In 1779, James Boswell wrote, "In Leeds, where one would not expect it, there is a very good public library, where strangers are treated with great civility."The library moved twice before settling in the purpose built premises on Commercial Street, Leeds on 4 July 1808. This building is a grade II* listed Greek Revival building by Thomas Johnson with major 1880-81 extension to the rear by Thomas Ambler. As of June 2020 the library has over 1000 members who pay an annual subscription. The library is estimated to have a stock of over 140 000 titles with 1,500 new books being added annually. It also contains more modern items such as audiobooks and DVDs. The library's extensive collection is frequently used by researchers who are not members. The library holdings also incorporate the stock of the short lived Leeds Foreign Library. The Foreign Library was founded in 1778 and incorporated into the Leeds Library in 1814. The library is the setting for much of Frances Brody's 2014 novel Death of an Avid Reader.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Leeds Library (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Leeds Library
Commercial Street, Leeds Lovell Park

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Wikipedia: Leeds LibraryContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 53.7975 ° E -1.5444 °
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Ann Summers

Commercial Street 16-17
LS1 6AL Leeds, Lovell Park
England, United Kingdom
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The Leeds Library interior 1
The Leeds Library interior 1
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Leeds
Leeds

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is governed by a metropolitan borough named after the city, which is the third most populous city in the United Kingdom. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It expanded by becoming a major production centre, including of carbonated water where it was invented in the 1760s, and trading centre (mainly with wool) for the 17th and 18th centuries. It was a major mill town during the Industrial Revolution. It was also known for its flax industry, iron foundries, engineering and printing, as well as shopping, with several surviving Victorian era arcades, such as Kirkgate Market. City status was awarded in 1893, and a populous urban centre formed in the following century which absorbed surrounding villages and overtook the population of nearby York.Leeds is about halfway between London and Edinburgh and has multiple motorway links; the M1, M62 and A1(M). The city's railway station is, alongside Manchester Piccadilly, the busiest of its kind in Northern England. It is the county's largest settlement with a population of 536,280, while the larger City of Leeds district has a population of 812,000 (2021 census). The city is part of the fourth-largest built-up area by population in the United Kingdom, West Yorkshire Built-up Area, with a 2011 census population of 1.7 million.

Whitelock's Ale House
Whitelock's Ale House

Whitelock's Ale House is a pub in the city centre of Leeds, in England. The pub lies on Turk's Head Yard, on a narrow burgage plot off Briggate. The building it occupies was constructed in about 1700 as a row of cottages, and the easternmost of these was licensed as the Turk's Head pub in 1715. John Lupton Whitelock became the landlord in 1867, and in the 1880s he purchased the cottage, renaming the pub as Whitelock's First City Luncheon Bar.In 1895, John's son, William Henry Whitelock, commissioned Waite & Sons to remodel the pub. It was extended into the next cottage, a new kitchen was created, and the whole was redecorated with a scheme which largely survives. As part of the refurbishment, electric lighting and an electric clock were installed, supposedly the first building in the city to have these features. The pub was later further extended, to encompass the whole terrace of cottages.In the early 20th century, the landlord was Lupton Whitelock, a well known flautist, and under his management, the pub became popular with musicians, other artists, journalists and academics. Among its regulars was John Betjeman, who described as "the very heart of Leeds". Other regulars included Peter O'Toole, Len Hutton and Keith Waterhouse. Prince George once held a party in a curtained-off area of the pub. The pub was sold by the Whitelocks to Scottish Brewers in 1944. It was Grade II listed in 1963, and in 2022, it was upgraded to grade II*. It is also listed on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. In 2015, the western part of the pub, which had formerly been a function room, was converted into a separate pub, named The Turks Head.The building is built of brick, with stone dressings. It is mostly two storeys in height, with a cellar, although the western part is three storeys high. Some of the windows contain stained glass, mostly advertising the pub, although one above a doorway advertises an engraving business which was formerly based upstairs. In the main bar, part of which was formerly curtained off as a dining room, the walls are covered in mirrors and panelling. There are long bench seats, separated by baffles to form booths. The bar takes up half the rear wall, and has a tiled front, and a copper and marble top. The first floor former dining room also has panelling and mirrors, and retains a Victorian fireplace.