Leeds Travel Forum

Hi,

I am a guy from Singapore and moving to Berlin.

But I am having second thoughts because of the language barrier and wondering if I should consider Leeds, Newcastle, or Edinburgh (even Manchester!).

I heard there's quite a bit of drunken violence in Northern England at night, and was curious if I (as a visible foreigner) can expect any trouble?

Any thoughts on the quality of life in these cities would also be appreciated.

Don't worry, you can find drunken violence in ALL Britain's cities on a Friday and Saturday night, of you look for it. Unfortunately the British like to drink large quantities of alcohol at the weekend for entertainment.

Leeds is one of Britain's largest cities, it has a large student population and also has a reputation as a great shopping centre and place for great nightlife.

I wouldn't worry too much about being from Singapore. Big cities usually have a variety of people living there and this part of Yorkshire is known for its large-ish Asian population.

You may sometimes have problems understanding the Yorkshire accent though :-)

hi
i am a asian born englishman..living and working in leeds..i am brown.

there are good and bad in every society..the vast majority of the british are decent and tolerant people..dont let a few idiots put you off..if you are going to live in leeds...let me know and ill tell you which areas to avoid

regards
mohammed

Are there certain areas that I should avoid in Leeds? Just curious how Leeds would compare to say...Newcastle, Manchester, or Edinburgh.

Hi there,

I have lived in Leeds all my life. It is a great city with a msssive student population. You would be very suprised of the amount of foreign students studying in Leeds from all over the world.

I live beside a student area of Leeds and there is not alot of trouble at all!!!!

If you do deside to come to Leeds, let me know and I will be able to show you round.

I'm from Newcastle, so I'm perhaps a little bit biased here, but Newcastle is a great city. As someone has already said, you'll find drunkeness and alcohol-related violence anywhere in the UK. But if you know the areas to avoid, you'll be fine.

That's certainly the case in Newcastle. If you don't want to be caught up in drunken violence, just avoid the Bigg Market area of the City Centre, and perhaps the Quayside. You'll see people out getting drunk elsewhere in the City Centre, especially on Friday and Saturday nights and when Newcastle United are playing, but although it maybe noisy, you won't get any problems.

The North East of England has a reputation for being friendly, and I think that's largely true. Someone has already pointed out that the vast majority of British people are tolerant, and its absolutley true.

I don't think you need to worry about moving to any of those cities. They are all fairly multicultural places, and I'm sure you'd enjoy living in any one of them. It does get a bit cold though, but if you can put up with that, you'll like it.