Back when I lived in Leeds, its waterfront was emphatically not A Thing. It was certainly not called The Waterfront, being a disregarded area of town rotting behind the station, with long-closed mills and factories collapsing into weed-smothered decay. These dessicated buildings stood alongside ill-repaired streets, deserted except by cars whose owners parked here for free before scurrying off to work or shop in a more salubrious part of town. The River Aire, the Leeds-Liverpool Canal were uninviting, rubbish-clogged. The area wasn’t anybody’s idea of a good day out.
Nowadays, what a surprise! Mills and factories have been restored: repurposed as offices, shops, bars and restaurants. It’s busy day and night with local workers, tourists and pleasure-seekers. Canal boats saunter in and out. Here’s a woman enjoying a quiet moment, probably in her lunch break, on a bench overlooking the canal.
And here are members of a local art group, sketching the area in all its vibrancy one sunny August day. They seem to have commandeered all the benches-for-one.
For Jude’s Bench Challenge.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
This has happened to quite a few ‘waterfronts’, Margaret. Formerly rather unsightly scenes, now pride of place and enjoyed by all. Dundee comes to mind. What a transformation.
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It would be unimaginable to those who worked there in the area’s industrial days. What? Wine, parties,pizzas?
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I do like that first shot. She looks very poised.
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Doesn’t she just? Maybe not an office worker then. That hat makes her look rather elegant.
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The reinvigoration of previously derelict areas in cities, like Leeds, is fabulous. It adds back so much character.
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It does. And it’s good to see them busy.
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what an interesting bit of urban regeneration! Certainly looks worth spending some time there. That said, I would love to have seen and photographed long-closed mills and factories collapsing into weed-smothered decay!
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Oh, wouldn’t you just Sue? They were often pretty fenced off and inaccessible though, unfortunately.
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Ok, I won’t beat myself up about not being there, then…
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I like it when they do that.
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Me too!
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A wonderful turn around for Leeds.
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Leeds – and so many other cities and towns too.
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It’s my favourite place in Leeds xx
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👍xx
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I really like the blue tone you’ve used on some of these, it suits the subjects so well 🙂 And I could rewrite your first paragraph substituting Newcastle for Leeds, the Quayside for the Waterfront and the Tyne for the Aire! The first time Chris took me there in (I think) 1980, I remember seeing a large rat 😀
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Thanks Sarah. Yes,it seems every city and town having a waterside that used to be a place of toil is now re-inventing it. I’m thnking St. Katharine’s Dock in London which I saw for the first time a few months ago. Commenters to this post have mentioned, as you have, other place that tell the same story.
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Yes, St. Katharine’s Dock is another example for sure 🙂
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I thought of Ouseburn in Newcastle, another area that has had a bit of a glow up.
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Yes, that’s a good and more recent example than the Quayside area. We always enjoy a walk there.
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Happily, it’s something that’s happened in so many places.
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It’s an interesting turn of events where manufacturing and industry spaces have been replaced by service industries and recreation spaces. Buildings like those aren’t constructed any longer, are they? It does look like a wonderful place to visit and sit down a reflect a bit….
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Yes, the area gets it character by being a place whose long history is evident. Those mill workers would be astonished to see their place of drudgery having become a playground!
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I like how you chose to showcase these photos in monochrome. A sort of nod to the past. And yes, certainly very different atmosphere to the last time I was in Leeds which was probably 1996. How did the op go? I am surprised you are using a screen already.
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It went well, but I am using one eye at the moment. I’ve got to do SOMEthing!
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Aye aye 😜
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Not my experience of Leeds either! I like the elegant lady on her bench.
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I know. She had excellent Perfect Posture.
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Love how the waterfront has developed, especially the excellent seating areas!
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Excellent seating definitely required.
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Nice to see old places getting a new lease of life. The canal boats intrigue me, another thing that used to be functional but boat life is quite a trend now.
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A good and faithful commenter was here!
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😊
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amazing how much it has changed even since I lived in Leeds!
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Quite. Even since I was there.
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