Beeston

Location

Beeston is a small suburb south of Leeds, with a population of about 16,000, divided between the Beeston Hill area and the Cross Flatts Park area to the south of Beeston. Beeston is principally an inner-city area, located close to the city centre and served by great motorway links. Beeston is known mainly by two distinct areas separated by a large park known as Cross Flatts. Beeston Hill lies to the east, with Beeston Village to the west, with the centre of Beeston situated two miles from Leeds City Centre and bordering on other local suburbs such as Hunslet and Holbeck in South Leeds and Wortley and Armley in West Leeds.

A large part of Beeston is due for imminent redevelopment, especially around the Beeston Hill area, with many former local authority residences unoccupied and rumoured to be scheduled for demolition. This ensures Beeston is a fantastic area for property Investment.

The more affluent area of Cross Flatts Park is home to Elland Road and Leeds United AFC, as well as the Hunslet Hawks Rugby League FC. Beeston has great links to the M621 which adjoins the M62 and M1, making the commute around Yorkshire and beyond very easy.

Amenities

Beeston is home to the White Rose Shopping Centre, a vibrant and large out-of-town retail outlet with fantastic links to the M621 and ample free parking. The White Rose Centre is also home to a number of large business call centres such as Orange and O2, employing thousands in Leeds.

Beeston grew during the industrial revolution, with fabrication and heavy industry throughout the last two centuries, although these have all but closed during the last four decades. Nampak, who produce cartons and operate from the former Waddingtons factory are currently Beeston’s principal employer, however the main employment areas are the close by Leeds City centre and surrounding Business districts such as the White Rose Business Centre and the other many business establishments along the River Aire.

Beeston is home to the Leeds College of Technology which is positioned in South Beeston. Parkside Secondary School and South Leeds High School are the biggest secondary schools in the Area. The South Leeds High school was reopened as the South Leeds Academy, the newest of the Labour Governments Investment in new schools. There are three further local Secondary Schools in neighbouring Morley, as well as an abundance of Primary Schools in the Beeston.

Leisure and Sports

Leisure and Sports play a vital role in the Beeston Community. Beeston is home to two large stadiums attracting a useful economy to the area, with the widely known Elland Road which is home to Leeds United Football Club. The stadium has a huge all seater 42,000 capacity with modern facilities. Elland Road is located in the North of Beeston, with fantastic access onto the M621.

The second largest stadium is the South Leeds Stadium, and home to the newly developed John Charles Centre for sport. Situated next to the M1, the John Charles Centre for sport offers Leeds a great national spectator sports facility.

As well as this the newly built leisure centre offers an Aquatics and gym centre, athletics, bowls, 10 five-a-side football pitches, Hospitality, Table Tennis and tennis as well as a large fitness timetable. The swimming pool is a large 50 by 25 metre pool with moving floor, 800 seat spectator area, cafe and aerobics studio.

The recently extended Bodyline gym, located in the main stadium, has a 60 station gym with all the latest cardio and resistance equipment. The all-weather outdoor pitches includes third generation grass five-a-side football pitches, a full size all weather pitch and a quality grass playing surface with 2,500 seat grandstand for national and regional professional team sport events. The full size all weather pitch is suitable for a multitude of sports including hockey, rugby league training and football.

The John Charles Centre for sport also offers indoor athletics facilities such as a 6 lane 75 metre sprint track used by Leeds up-and-coming young athletes for sprint, hurdles and conditioning training. The facilities also include long jump, high jump, triple jump and pole vault, javelin throwing, discuss hammer and shot training cage as well as a specific high performance training area for athletes. The outdoor facilities consist of an 8 lane athletics track, outdoor throwing area and all jumping facilities provided for.

There is an array of fitness classes on offer at the centre, including Body Conditioning, which uses dumbbells and aerobic moves to give a fantastic all body workout, as well as Fab Abs, Yoga and Pilates which helps improve posture, muscle tone and muscle strength. Circuits is a multi group exercise for full fitness work outs and the Boxing circuit involves boxing training with the emphasis on technique, including speedball, pads and bags.

The John Charles Centre for sport also boasts a function suite suitable for anything from music events and product launches to large weddings and exhibitions for up to 2400 people, with ample parking. Recently there have been presentations, private celebrations, conferences, corporate meetings, Charity bashes and Music events held at the centre.

The John Charles centre for sport also boasts six indoor and six outdoor floodlit tennis courts which provide ideal Tennis coaching, competition and social tennis. The centre offers a complete adult coaching programme as well as weekly social tennis in a relaxed and friendly environment.

The Leeds leisure centre is also home to Leeds City Athletic Club who train throughout the year. The Hunslet Hawks rugby league club have been using the John Charles Centre for Sport since 1995. The following years have become some of the most successful in the club’s history since 1883. The Yorkshire Rams are one of the best know American football teams in Britain, using Leeds home grown talent and becoming an important part of the local community.

History

Beeston is mentioned as ‘Bestone’ in 1086 in the Domesday book. Beeston is also home to a manor house dated from the 14th Century, this Grade II listed building is now run as private offices which are closed to the public. Beeston was a Town back in the 18th Century before being swallowed as part of Holbeck, then having been included in the City of Leeds in 1925.

During the 1800’s Beeston was a small mining village situated on a hill overlooking Leeds. This was until the industrial revolution which required the traditional farming land to be acquired and used for residential development to cater for the thousands of employees who flocked to Leeds to work as part of the local industrial mills and heavy industry at the time.

During March 1941, Leeds received its worst period of German Air Raid bombing. Leeds City Centre managed to escape large scale destruction during the blitz, however Beeston had more bombs dropped on it than any other suburb. Fortunately, only one street was severely damaged during the Air Raids, with the majority of the bombs landing on Cross Flatts Park. Speculation mounted as to whether this was an act of great courage by the Air Raid pilots, a theory that has been investigated ever since the blitz.

Housing

Beeston is predominantly an area of social and rented property with a good mix of Leeds letting agents and Leeds estate agents along the Dewsbury Road. To rent Leeds flats, in Beeston, Hunslet, Holbeck and other areas of south Leeds brings about great savings in comparison to other parts of Leeds due to the mix of terraced properties and social housing. More affluent areas of Beeston such as Cross Flatts has attracted students searching for Leeds student accommodation, as Beeston offers a wide mix of cultures and is attractive to those wishing to rent Leeds accommodation without the heavy prices of Leeds City Centre.

Beeston Hill is comprised largely of areas of terraced housing, with an ethnic population, and many unoccupied residential and commercial buildings. It may be seen as a deprived area, although this may be a spur for those wishing to invest in Leeds property, mainly due to the European funding of £93m to build hundreds of new private Homes and HA houses to rent Leeds, as well as large scale regeneration of the existing stock. For further information, you may wish to call us for a chat or speak to Leeds letting agents or Estate Agents. Beeston provides a wide range of property Leeds has to offer.

The Cross Flatts area of Beeston village is centred on a shopping centre comprising a large Co-operative store and a number of smaller shops. Leeds rent market in Beeston favours the Cross Flatts area of Beeston where flats and houses to rent in this area command a considerable increase. Letting agents Leeds consider this area highly as a useful rental market.

Transport

Road: Beeston has great road links with major intersections linking the M621 to the M1 North to Newcastle or South towards London. Leeds is a three hour Journey from London. Many taxi ranks operate in Beeston.

Bus: Beeston is serviced by many bus routes along Dewsbury Road a major route into the centre of Leeds, as well as links from Elland Road and Town Street. The popular No.1 service operated by First Leeds features the ‘bendy’ buses and links the majority of Beeston with Leeds city centre and beyond. There is also a match day bus station at Elland Rd.

Rail: Beeston is host to a mainline rail link running between Leeds City Station and London Kings Cross and London St Pancras. However Beeston Station closed in 1953. There had been rumours of the rail services reopening depending on future funding for the station. To catch a train the nearest railway station is Leeds City Station.