Holt Park

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Asda (above and below) in Holt Park; the bus shown in the top picture is the Number 1 (Brown Line) service to Beeston via the City Centre. This area is used as a bus station, as several routes begin and end here. The top picture shows the nearby Tinshill BT Tower

Holt Park is a quiet, low-rise, 1970s estate in the northwest suburbs of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (approximately seven miles from the city centre). Holt Park is situated between Tinshill, Cookridge and Adel. It is at the edge of the Leeds metropolitan urban fringe, bordering the green belt which makes up two thirds of Leeds Metropolitan District. The nearby Tinshill BT Tower dominates the skyline.

Holt Park is in the Leeds North West constituency, and the Member of Parliament is Greg Mulholland of the Liberal Democrats, who beat Labour's Harold Best in the 2005 General Election. Greg Mulholland has his constituency office in the Holt Park District Centre and holds regular surgeries in the Asda supermarket there.

1 Housing
2 Ralph Thoresby School
3 Holt Park District Centre
4 Transport
5 Location grid
6 External links

[edit] Housing

One half of Holt Park was built as a council estate and the other half was built as private housing, the latter being of the period 'Ashton' design, comprising a mixture of detached and semi-detached housing, and several apartments. At the same time two schools, a sports centre (Holt Park Leisure Centre), a library (Holt Park Library, annexed to and therefore part of the High School) and a shopping centre were built. The sports centre can be found within the shopping complex, and the area is collectively known as Holt Park District Centre.

In the mid-1990s, despite much objection from local residents, those from nearby areas and admirers of the countryside, an additional estate was built by Taywood Homes. Part of the field it was built upon, nicknamed 'Devil's Field', is rumoured to have been owned by a man who had been deceased for several decades, who had wished for it only to be used for leisure activity. The estate that was completed in the 1990s is cut off by means of walls, and the homes are typically red, small and close together.

[edit] Ralph Thoresby School

The original Ralph Thoresby buildings were built around 1975, and remained the school's campus until 2007. It was strategically built as part of the district centre, and so the leisure centre and the library were actually, as well as being fully accessible to the public, a part of the school's premises.

In 2007 Holt Park Library and Ralph Thoresby High School were re-built on a new site off Holt Dale Approaach (south). The High School itself opened in September 2007. The old school buildings have been knocked down, although what will replace it remains unclear. It is hoped that it will be turned into green space. The new school buildings are particularly striking and modern. This is one in a long line of North Leeds secondary schools to be rebuilt, following Lawnswood School and Roundhay School.

[edit] Holt Park District Centre

Holt Park District Centre from the southern side, by the village square

The shopping centre has decreased in character over the past ten years, with many businesses occupying the units either closing or relocating. Some have remained, however, such as the popular fish and chip shop (Holt Park Fisheries), the equally popular café and the opticians. Recently a dental practice has been established.The Asda store is the most significant retail unit there, which underwent a slight extension and revised floor layout in late 2004. This is known to be in Holt Park itself, but is mistakenly named 'Asda at Adel'. Adjacent to the shopping centre is High Farm, the farm that the estate was originally built around, which has now been converted to a public house. The building itself is known to date back to the 17th Century. The shopping centre also contains the area's bus station. In many ways the district centre is similar (although smaller) to many new town shopping centres such as those in Newton Aycliffe and Cumbernauld.

[edit] Transport

Holt Park enjoys a frequent bus service, run by First Leeds (formerly Yorkshire Rider), notably Service 1 "Brown Line" which runs from the shopping centre, through Headingley, Leeds City Centre and terminating in the south Leeds area of Beeston. The very first bendy-buses in the United Kingdom were pioneered on this route, in 1999, and still remain in operation today. The 940 bus runs from the shopping centre to Otley, via Bramhope and Pool-in-Wharfedale. The nearest Railway Station to Holt Park is Horsforth, situated on the Leeds-Harrogate-York Line.