If you go down to the Meanwood today...

Little surprises left - definitely no three bedroom houses

Sometime in the summer of 2008, A. phoned me at work to tell me she had found us a new house.

“Are we looking for one?” I’m sure I would have said.

With our first child on the way, and a double flight of stairs that needed a Sherpa’s help after a few pints in our back to back in Wortley. A. had taken it upon herself to identify the right house to start our family in.

So in the autumn before kids, we moved our lives in a transit van from one side of Leeds to the other. Swapping the local Netto for a Co-op, and the hope of starting a new life somewhere with a bit more get up and go, about it. Which was ironic, as once the baby came along, we rarely ever got up and went (out).

At the time Meanwood was just another suburb you lived in, but went out elsewhere. Neighbouring Chapel Allerton was the place to live (according to the press). It had a buzz, as the Fish, Chips and Fur Coat* set talked endlessly about how they had everything on their doorstep.

They claimed to have their own “15 Minute City” (that just happened to have a dirty, great, connecting road running right through it). Meanwood had, at the time, a closed down pub, a Working Men’s Club, two supermarkets, three Chinese takeaways, two betting shops and a Jamaican Patty shop. It was the kind of place that had a much needed community store and two betting shops. What money was in North Leeds, wasn’t always flowing in Meanwood.

Then came the news of Waitrose. The space filled predominantly by the Co-op would be demolished, and the middle-class magnet would replace it.

The problem with trying to know where you sat on the gentrification timeline is that someone will always have been there before you. We predated most of what you go to Meanwood for, these days. Alfred, Zucco and Beck and Call - they were all but a dream when we were getting kebabs from De Nero, or scouring the Asda shelves for a half decent bottle of wine. However, someone will always chip in with “I remember when it was GT Smiths” and you’re immediately an outsider once again.

I was definitely there when Kirbys was one, if not the best Fish and Chip shop in Leeds.

With the news of Waitrose, the Becketts Arms was turned into flats, with a airport departure lounge of a pub thrown in for good measure. The solicitors has gone through two versions of a bar/restaurant since we moved in. There’s now even a highly rated Sushi bar where one of five hairdressers used to be.

Very few people talk about Chapel Allerton or Headingley (do you remember that place?) these days. It’s all Meanwood this, up and coming that. To the point where, when you get to the size of a family like ours, it becomes a struggle to stay true to your pre-Zucco roots. The schools are now oversubscribed. There’s a distinct lack of “bigger” houses that aren’t new builds, and it’s hard to see how that will change if there are anymore Guardian features on this once, slightly in the shadows of other areas, suburban outpost.

Meanwood is great. As are parts of Chapel Allerton and Moortown for certain things. We may not have the fake columns and new money facades of Allwoodley, but we don’t need those things. We have decent pubs, award winning restaurants and a Troll Bridge that can’t be matched anywhere else in the city.

Chris King now lives on the Carr Manors because, try as she might, not even A. could craft the magic needed to find a reasonably priced, three/four bedroom house in the heart of Meanwood these days.

* Fish, Chips and Fur Coats is how you describe folk who pay so much money on rent or their mortgage, that they can no longer go “uptown” on a Friday or Saturday night, so have to make do with getting dressed up to go out in their own postcode.