The Light (Leeds)
Encyclopedia
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is located along The Headrow. The building was constructed in 1930–31 as Permanent House, the headquarters of the Leeds Permanent Building Society
Leeds Permanent Building Society
The Leeds Permanent Building Society was a building society founded in Leeds, England in 1846 and was commonly known in a shortened form as The Leeds...
; the society moved to new premises in at Lovell Park
Lovell Park
Lovell Park is an inner-city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.Lovell Park along with its adjacent areas Little London and Blenheim, is an area of 1960s high-rise and maisonette council housing situated between the city centre and Sheepscar....
in the 1990s. The legacy of the building's original use is still evident in the architecture, and the Browns
Browns Restaurants
Browns Restaurants is a British chain of restaurants, mostly located in the south of England.Browns was the first hospitality venture established by millionaire Jeremy Mogford, who in 1973 invested £10,000 in the first Browns Restaurant and Bar in Brighton, East Sussex...
restaurant at The Light uses the former banking hall.
Following a period in the 1990s when Permanent House was used as offices for Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
, the site was redeveloped, and this involved a demolition that involved the 61-metres-tall Leeds Permanent tower and other annexes which were constructed in the 1960s.
The Light opened in 2001 and it has a retail area of 32,515 square metres and targets a high spender customer base. It contains Leeds' only city-centre cinema, a 13-screen multiplex cinema operated by Vue
Vue
Vue or VUE may refer to:Software:* VUE, Hewlett-Packard's Visual User Environment* VUE , a concept mapping tool* E-on Vue, 3D landscape generation software from e-on softwareOther uses:...
(formerly Ster Century
Ster Century
Ster Century was a cinema company in Ireland and the UK. There was one Ster Century cinema in Dublin, Ireland, and six in the UK: Basingstoke, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Norwich, and Romford...
). Also within The Light there are a number of restaurants such as Nandos and Cafe Rouge, designer shops including Benetton and Ark, an Esporta
Esporta Health Clubs
Esporta Health & Fitness Clubs is a chain of health clubs in the United Kingdom, which also once owned clubs in Spain. The clubs offer a wide variety of different fitness facilities, including gyms, swimming pools and courts for racquet sports...
health club, a Radisson Blu 4-star hotel and an NHS
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
drop in centre. The Light also has a multi-storey car park
Multi-storey car park
A multi-storey car-park is a building designed specifically to be for car parking and where there are a number of floors or levels on which parking takes place...
. The Light has also hosted a number of special events, such as "City Beach","Meet the stylist" its annual "Night of Indulgence" in December.
The Elite Club is The Light's free loyalty scheme which offers member discounts and offers throughout the centre. This has been running since The Light opened and has proved to be popular, with many shops and restaurants regularly offering special deals.
The Light has its own magazine "Light Style" which is produced three times a year. It gives customers information about what's happening in the centre as well as having information on fashion dining and competitions.
The Light has been developed in such a way that shows the original building in most parts, so much that the building's facia along The Headrow has hardly changed since the original structure was opened in 1931. The redevelopment of The Light involved the incorporation of Fountain Street into the development. Since opening the tenants in the centre have remained fairly consistent.