Leeds skyline looks like New York says Jeremy Clarkson

New York, or New Wortley? Graphic by Graeme Bandeira

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HE’S famously never short of an opinion or two. And last night Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson was at it again, lighting up Twitter when he passed comment on Leeds’s skyline.

Clarkson was on a train journey north when he tweeted: “What’s happened to Leeds? It looks like New York.”

The Doncaster-born TV presenter’s remark was retweeted more than 1,200 times by other users of the social media site.

Today, Clarkson’s remark was still the talk of Twitter, as users discussed the respective merits of the city and the Big Apple.

Some went as far as to light-heartedly assert that Leeds – whose skyline has been transformed in recent years by the construction of 32-storey Bridgewater Place and other high-rise buildings – now puts the US city in the shade.

Experts in the field also had their say – and although they weren’t ready to write off New York just yet, they did acknowledge that the architectural changes Leeds has undergone in the last two decades have helped turn it into a true regional heavyweight.