Little London, Leeds

Little London, is a residential area of Leeds, north of the city centre and Leeds Inner Ring Road. It is so called because in the 19th century it had fashionable housing and interesting architecture comparable with London. In the 1950s and 60s it became largely council housing. and now consists of a mixture of high-rise and low rise flats and houses. The area falls within the Hyde Park and Woodhouse ward of the City of Leeds Council. The area is divided into four estates; Lovell Park, Oatlands, Carlton and Servia.HistoryThe area developed around an area then known as The Leylands in the 18th century. Originally a largely working class residential area housing workers for the areas textile industry. In 1865 the Carlton Barracks opened in the area and is still open. By the 1950s the area had become dilapidated with many of the areas back-to-back housing were considered unfit for human habitation and was redeveloped in a slum clearance scheme, around the same town the layout of the area was changed by the construction of the Leeds Inner Ring Road and the Sheepscar Interchange. As part of the areas redevelopment the main thoroughfare Camp Road was renamed Lovell Park Road and Oatlands Lane. There are few buildings in the area that predate the redevelopment during the 1960s and 1970s; All Souls' Church being one of them. A more modest redevelopment of the area was undertaken in the 2010s.DescriptionThe area backs onto the Sheepscar Interchange, a major road interchange between the A61 towards Harrogate and the A58 towards Wetherby) and the Leeds Inner Ring Road.