Bramley, Leeds

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View of Leeds City Centre from Bramley
View of Leeds City Centre from Bramley

Bramley is an area of west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is an old industrial area and home to a lot of 19th-century architecture alongside 20th-century council housing in the east and private suburban housing to the west. It has its own railway station which is on the Caldervale and Leeds to Bradford lines. Bramley was mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book as "Brameleia" and "Bramelie".

Contents

[edit] Amenities

Bramley is dominated by the Bramley Shopping Centre, a 1960s-style concrete shopping plaza which was erected to replace the traditional stone-built village centre. The current range of shops include charity shops, banks, travel agents, bakeries, pawnbrokers, supermarkets, a post office, a thrift shop, a dental practice and fast food takeaways. Following the deterioration of the shopping centre over the past decade, Leeds City Council are redeveloping it, bring new stores such as Farmfoods and Tesco to the area.

Bramley is home to several churches, these include:

  • Bramley Christian Church
  • Bramley Baptist Church [1]
  • Bramley Church of the Nazarene (Wesleyan) [2]
  • Bramley St Margaret's (Anglican)
  • Bramley St Peter (Anglican)
  • Christ the King Catholic Church
  • Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
  • Trinity Methodist Church

The Bramley Baths are an example of Edwardian swimming baths. Built in 1904, and recently restored, they benefit from a 25 m pool, a gym and a Russian steam room. The baths were used for dances during their early years, when the pool was covered with a large dancefloor. The baths are probably one of the best remaining examples - perhaps the only example - of an Edwardian baths in Leeds today.

There are also a few small parks/open areas for outdoor recreation, including Bramley Park, which holds a fireworks display most years and has an underground reservoir at the highest point of the park, and Bramley Fall Woods.

[edit] Bramley Redevelopment

The centre of Bramley was redeveloped in the 1960s and 1970s. The Bramley Shopping Centre replaced the former town centre. The Bramley Shopping Centre was Leeds' second purpose built town centre after Seacroft Town Centre. Unlike Seacroft Town Centre the Bramley Shopping Centre replaced an existing town centre. The redevelopment at the time was said to replace substandard shops and houses. Many of the shops and cottages by this time were dilapidated and in need of work. However in retrospect the redevelopment of Bramley is often condemned as one of the least sensitive redevelopment programmes in Yorkshire. In 2008 the Yorkshire Evening Post ran an article on the "lost town centre" and featured pictures of Bramley prior to redevelopment. The article had a critical slant on its analysis of the redevelopment, echoing feelings that a unique and historic Yorkshire town centre was replaced by a generic, modernist, concrete shopping precinct.

[edit] Sport

Bramley juniors football club have been around since 1994 and still are running today with open age teams. They developed the football team from just 1 under 9's club in 1994

The area is home to rugby league side Bramley Buffaloes and to [Bramley Phoenix Rugby Union Club] .

The area is home to kickboxer Phil Harman. It is also the home of Bramley Juniors football club, founded in 1994 by the Locke family. Bramley Juniors is now a well-established football club, with an assortment of age groups.

The area is also home to Bramley Phoenix JFC which is now the areas largest junior football club with 10 age groups. Bramley Phoenix JFC are based at Armley Lazer Centre.

[edit] Politics

The Member of Parliament for Bramley is Labour MP John Battle, although he is going to retire at the next General Election. He has spent over 20 years as the constituency's MP, and the shortlist to replace him is made up entirely of women.

Many of the estates in Bramley have active residents associations, these include:

  • Moorside and Ganners Tenants' and Residents' Association,
  • Landseer Tenants and Residents' Association,
  • Rossefield Residents' Association.

[edit] Location Grid


North: Rodley
West: Farsley Bramley, Leeds East: Armley, Kirkstall
South: Pudsey, Swinnow

[edit] External links

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