22 Pictures That Show How Different Leeds And Sheffield Are

An ex-Leeds resident and current Sheffield local weighs up two of the North’s very best cities.

1.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: tjblackwell / Creative Commons

Leeds is the only one of the two with a commercial airport. But the city centre loop is one of the most confusing and maddening road systems in the country, and buses can be pretty expensive too (especially the swanky 36). That being said, HS2 could make getting in and out a little easier.

Sheffield:

Flickr: 8592508@N04 / Creative Commons

Despite its lack of airport, Sheffield has something else that Leeds doesn’t: the tram. It’s speedy, rarely delayed by much (unless it rains), and affordable. Sheffield is also a song or two closer to London on the train. But again, we might have to wait and see where HS2 ends up weaving through.

2.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: 141556717@N03

Leeds recently caught up with rival Sheffield and got its own John Lewis, meaning it now has pretty much every single shop you could ever want. In fact, there's 1,000 of them in the city centre. It definitely wins for designer stores like Harvey Nics and Vivienne Westwood, boosted even further by the new Victoria Gate shopping centre. Plus, the indoor market halls like Kirkgate and the Corn Exchange are pretty stunning.

Sheffield:

Flickr: robinbyles

Of course, Sheffield has Meadowhall. It's big, but its 230 shops don't quite match up to Leeds' 1,000. Let's be honest, the city centre is a pretty big mess for shopping at the moment. The bods in charge of the city centre are working hard to consolidate the best places into one area and get Fargate back on its feet again. However, if you don't mind trekking out of the centre, Meadowhall is expanding and there is an Ikea coming our way in summer 2017, not to mention the brand spanking new Primark now on The Moor.

3.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: 60933389@N06

With one of the biggest parks in Europe, Roundhay Park, and the moors of Ilkley just on its doorstep, Leeds is pretty strong competition for Sheffield. However…

Sheffield:

Flickr: highlights6

Sheffield has Derbyshire next door. Sheffield has the Peak District next door. Sheffield has Chatsworth House next door. Sheffield has the Botanical Gardens. Sheffield has more trees per person that any other city in the entirety of fricking Europe. I could go on.

4.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: thefoodplace

Chain restaurants might be taking over the world, and Nando's branches are spreading like a rash (not that we're complaining), but Leeds is home to some of the coolest indie restaurants in the North. Caribbean restaurant Turtle Bay and Zaap Thai (Thai, funnily enough), which both only have a small handful of branches, both opened last year, with Instagram-ready dishes and décor and incredible food.

Sheffield:

Flickr: 28359281@N07

If Leeds does restaurants well, Sheffield is excellent at indie cafes. With the likes of Lucky Fox, Steam Yard, and Tamper all in the Division Street area and in crawling distance of one another, Sheffield is never going to be short of caffeine.

5.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: tjblackwell

Rent price as a share of salary is 52% in Leeds, which isn't terrible…but not that great either. Especially when compared with its rival Sheffield. And there's more bad news: You would need only around £2,644 in Sheffield to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with £2,700 in Leeds, according to one number-crunching researcher.

Sheffield:

Flickr: andrewbasterfield

Houses are more affordable in Sheffield, and rent price as a share of salary is only 37%. Sheffield also has cheaper transport options and much cheaper city parking.

6.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: 22179048@N05

With the ever-popular Call Lane a great place to start, from there the city is your clubbing oyster. Space, Revs De Cuba, Pryzm, Oracle, Mint – there's a place for every music taste and every age. Leeds also has a strong handful of rooftop bars with incredible city views: Sky Lounge, Angelica, Belgrave Music Hall, and Headrow House. Plus once a year they have Leeds festival and Leeds carnival.

Sheffield:

Flickr: tramlinesofficial

If there is one thing Sheffield does offer in terms of the clubbing scene, it's variety. Oh, and sticky floors. Corp, Plug, Leadmill, the recent addition to West Street Bierkeller, and Carver Street – there's always going to be somewhere to dance on the tables. In fact, it's actively encouraged in Bierkeller. There's also the Tramlines festival every summer.

7.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: atoach

Leeds has three universities to Sheffield's two, and a greater student population too. Some 65,000 students live in the city to an entire population of 752,000. Oh, and one survey found that Leeds is a more cost-effective city than Sheffield, ranking Leeds at 17th best in the country compared with Sheffield at 20th.

Sheffield:

Flickr: paolomargari

Unlike Leeds, Sheffield has one polytechnic and one red brick university. The city's population of 553,000 includes 48,000 students. That being said, Sheffield itself is smaller, meaning there never feels like there is a shortage of students on either side of the city. Sheffield University has taken the title of best student union in the country for a whopping five years in a row.

8.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: moran

Leeds have a pretty strong reputation in the footballing world, both in the UK and abroad. They've also done well against footballing giants historically. Statistically, in all the times that Leeds have played Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds have won the most games. And scored the most goals.

Sheffield:

Flickr: bradford_timeline

Sheffield has not one but two professional football teams, Wednesday and United. So that's something! Plus, Sheffield FC is the oldest football club in the whole country, dating back to 1857. Oh, and there was that one time when Wednesday thrashed Leeds 6–0 back in 2014. #awks

9.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: aldenchadwick

Though the Met Office’s latest data only reaches to 2010, Leeds gets pretty trounced by Sheffield. Leeds has a yearly average max temperature of 11.8C, and lows of 5.1C. Rainfall is estimated at around 1,024.1mm. An average year in Leeds will see about 152 rainy days – boo!

Sheffield:

Flickr: 34517490@N00

Not only does Sheffield have a higher yearly average max temperature of 13.4C, it's also got a lower minimum temperature, at 6.6C. Rainfall is much lower too, at 834.6mm. The city has around 131 rainy days each year. Basically, Sheffield has about three weeks less rain each year.

10.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Flickr: 131523038@N02

Fun fact: Leeds has more accountancy firms and law firms than any other city in the UK except London. Savvy startups have caught on to how much they can get for their money in their city, meaning business is booming. In fact, Leeds has the country's third-largest number of jobs by local authority area, and the average salary here is around £22,419.

Sheffield:

Flickr: xurble

You’re likely to earn less in Sheffield than in Leeds with the average annual salary at £20,382. It doesn’t even win on lower unemployment rates; both cities are matched, at 8%.

11.

Getty Images / BuzzFeed

Leeds:

Alberto E. Rodriguez / Gustavo Caballero / BuzzFeed

Spice Girls and Harry Potter: two iconic parts of many a life. Well, the world has Leeds to thank for (some of) that. Leeds had its very own Spice Girl back in the day, in the form of Mel B, and Harry Potter's least-likely-child-star-turned-hot-young-thing Matthew Lewis is from Leeds too!

Sheffield:

Kevin Winter / HBO / BuzzFeed

Arctic Monkeys were a bloody big deal back in 2006, and Sheffield was proud to call the boys its own. Rather more disappointingly, our beloved Sean Bean has been killed off on screen more times that we can remember. Comedian Eddie Izzard is one of our own also, as is the founder of Thorntons, Joseph William, erm, Thornton, funnily enough. Footballer Jamie Vardy was also born in Sheffield.