Briggate, Leeds

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Briggate, Leeds with Christmas lights

Briggate is a shopping street in Leeds, England. It is located in the centre of the city and for a long time has been regarded as one of the major shopping streets in the city. With the closure of Lewis's and Schofields on The Headrow, all bar one of Leeds' department stores are on Briggate, including the flagship Harvey Nichols store.

It is one of the oldest streets in the city of Leeds and was founded in 1207 when the road began on the north side of the Leeds Bridge over the River Aire. It was built to be extraordinaly wide so that it could host a market, although this was later moved to a new building on Vicar Lane, Kirkgate Market, that still exists as the City Markets today.

It is home to a number of major high street retailers as well as some banks, restaurants and cafes. Recently there have been some residential developments above the shops. The street is known for its historic arcades such as the County Arcade, part of the larger Victoria Quarter, Thornton's Arcade, and for a number of old alleyways (locally known as inns) that branch off Briggate and are home to a number of public houses such as Whitelocks that have changed little since the 18th Century. Other pubs include The Ship, The Packhorse and The Angel Inn. Originally, these inns were called 'loins', which is where the term Loiner (a resident of Leeds) is suspected to originate from. It refers to the people who would 'hang around in the loins'.

For many years the street was open to traffic but it was gradually pedestrianised - in 1993, only public transport vehicles were allowed to use the street, and in 1996 it was closed altogether to all except pedestrian traffic. This was done to attract new retailers to the street and to encourage more shoppers. In phases from 2004 to 2006, Briggate was properly pedestrianised with paving in York Stone, removing the roadway and pavements that remained. It was the first phase of a wider repaving scheme across the city centre that is ongoing.

The non pedestrianised part of Briggate between The Headrow and Merrion Street, Leeds is known as New Briggate and is home to some small retailers, bars, pubs, nightclubs, takeaways and the Grand Theatre. There is also a non pedestrianised stretch of Briggate on the south side between Boar Lane and Call Lane known as Lower Briggate. It was home to the Dysons Chambers Jobcentre Plus office (before it closed), restaurants, small shops, bars, pubs and a small Gay Enclave.