Leeds City Centre (Leeds)

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Leeds is the urban core of the metropolitan borough and city the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire in the north of England. The River Aire runs through the city.

In 1974 the former county borough of Leeds was merged with the towns of Wetherby, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, and other surrounding areas to form a metropolitan borough — the city status of the county borough being conferred on the new metropolitan borough. Somewhat confusingly therefore, the City of Leeds contains a number of towns including the former county borough of Leeds, which can be thought of as Leeds proper. For the purposes of this article Leeds refers to the city as it was prior to 1974 as to distinguish it from the metropolitan borough called the City of Leeds. According to the 2001 UK census the Leeds Urban Area had a population of 443,247 while the City of Leeds had a population of 715,404 and is one of England's core cities.

An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner, a word derived from the 'Loins' (or lanes) around Briggate in the town's centre, although the term is rarely used or understood. The mock-classical adjectives Leodensian and Leodiensian are sometimes used by some local sports clubs.