A Professional’s Guide to City Living
If you’re a professional in a major city, the place you live has a major impact on your lifestyle. From access to transport facilities, amenities such as gyms and shops and even your job, most people want everything to be close by so they spend less time travelling and more time enjoying their lives. For this reason, city centre flats are the ideal solution for young professionals who want to have everything on their doorstep – not only because travel costs are lower, but because they feel more involved with the city they live in.
Leeds, the UK’s third-biggest city, is a great example of somewhere professional people have a huge range of options for city centre living. Nine in ten people who live and work in Leeds say it offers a “great quality of life”, and it’s easy to see why. The hip designer stores of the Victoria Quarter and the Corn Exchange provide great places to shop and relax, there’s an array of cultural attractions such as the Royal Armories and Leeds Art Gallery, as well as a vibrant nightlife to immerse yourself in – and all of this located within the city centre. It’s also home to the UK’s busiest train station outside central London, providing professional people with easy access to the capital and other economic hubs such as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.
Wherever you decide to live, it always helps to have plenty of employment opportunities nearby. Even if you’re already in a job, your circumstances might change or you might fancy a change of scenery in the years to come, so you should try to be somewhere that is always growing has a wide range of thriving industries. Leeds alone has seen £3.5 billion of investment in major commercial, retail and residential properties in the last decade, and has 112,000 people employed in its finance and business sectors, according to regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.
It is also the UK’s third-biggest manufacturing centre and is currently enjoying strong growth in the digital, media and advertising sectors.
However, life can’t all be about work and you’ll probably want to choose somewhere close to some good restaurants, bars and nightspots – if they’re in walking distance, so much the better as you’ll be able to leave the car at home! Before you settle down, find out the best pubs and clubs to visit and start building your social connections – in Leeds, these would include places like Creation and the Warehouse for clubbing, while Calls Landing, The Hop and the Midnight Bell are all great pubs for young professionals.
A final thing to note when picking a place to live is your bills. While city centre flats in Leeds can be a bit more expensive than accommodation on the outskirts, this is often offset by lower transportation costs – everything you need is at most a bus journey away, and you can save a packet on taxi fares if you go out a lot. Some landlords will also offer to include your utility bills in the rent, which can also add up to a big saving.
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