The Perfect Blend of Rural and Urban Life

For people thinking about moving to the UK but don’t want to be in London, it is probably worth taking a look at Leeds. Situated in West Yorkshire, with regular and fast transport to all major UK cities; it is the perfect environment for the nascent business. On the other hand, if you travel just 20 miles from the centre of Leeds city, you can reach the Yorkshire Dales National Park, which offers some of the most remarkable countryside in the UK. 65% of Leeds is Green Belt land so if you’re a keen hiker, like camping, or just like to escape the hustle and bustle of a big city; this could be your perfect retreat.

With a population of 3 million in the Leeds City region, it is the third largest city in the UK, after London and Birmingham. Leeds operates the largest centre for business, legal and financial services outside of the capital city. First Direct and Yorkshire Bank are both based in Leeds, in addition; Barclays, HSBC, Santander, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS largely operate out of Leeds. The biggest professional financial services offered being in equity, venture and risk finance. Centre For Cities named Leeds one of five ‘cities to watch’ in 2011. Leeds is also credited for its “sophisticated and highly competitive legal market, second only to London” – UK Legal 500. The specialisms are not limited to any particular area; Leeds offers excellence in many fields of law.

Leeds is third in the running for all UK manufacturing. 50% of all manufacturing in the whole country is contained within 2 hours of the city and amounts to 1800 firms with 40,000 employees. Leeds is a hotbed for the booming manufacturing industries. If you have a manufacturing firm you would like to move to the UK, this could quite possibly be the best possible city to nurture a lucrative business. The largest subsectors are; engineering, printing, publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology.

Over the years Leeds Council has pumped money into renovating and rebuilding the city to make it what it is today. Some £2.5 billion was spent on property development, of which £711 million of this went on office development. Leeds is home to the most value for money office market in the whole country. If you were considering setting up business, you can ensure that your rental costs would be considerably lower than other major cities.

Many different ethnic and religious groups are represented in Leeds. The majority of inhabitants are Christian, but 3% are Muslim and Leeds has the largest Jewish community after London and Manchester.

The city of Leeds hosts many higher education establishments – most famously; the University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan, Leeds College of Art & Design and Leeds College of Music. This means your dependents have a lot of choice for which route they would like to take if they were interested in higher education and getting a degree. The city is very apt for students and is a wonderful place to study. The establishments offer support for students who do not have English as mother tongue and could be the perfect place in which to start planning for the future.

If you’re an entrepreneur with the aspiration to set up in the UK, or if you’re looking for more education opportunities for your family, or if you are interested in starting a whole new business from scratch, you could consider Leeds. If you find this possibility interesting, why not visit our website www.immigrationintoeurope.com or send us an email to: [email protected]