Channel 4 headquarters in Leeds

Leeds is still used as the address to send viewer's mail, applications to.

Do they still refer to the random number generator as CECIL these days? (Countdown's Electronic Calculator In Leeds)

If you wanted a bigger city, that leaves nowhere (Birmingham isn't northern, and Manchester as a city is smaller than Leeds).

Considering it was produced there since the start before the move to Manchester

I think the production office is still at Kirkstall Road

In theory the journey time from Leeds to London won't be too much longer, as the LNER (formerly East Coast) service runs between the two destinations. (A quick check on National Rail indicates a duration of around 2hr 15min, depending on service.) It's good that Channel 4 have opted for an alternative northern location instead of going for Manchester/Salford.

I still feel an opportunity has been lost to have a national broadcaster in more than one nation of the UK, which I would have found a healthy development. NI, Scotland and Wales obviously have more BBC/ITV opt-outs than the English regions but generally talk to themselves, rather than broadcast to other constituent parts of the UK (Wales is a slight exception here due to its drama output). It feels like there's a train of thought that "the north" ends at Salford for media execs in London and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are somewhat mystical lands which are dealt with by their own broadcasters, whereas if there is a strength of the UK it's surely having them all contributing to something bigger.

I'm also not sure how much it opens up UK television to those from other parts of the country given that Leeds and Salford aren't a million miles away from each other.

However, I do agree with most on here that it's healthy they didn't just pitch up at Salford and that they went for an alternative location. Very Channel 4. The connection with the channel's first ever show is also a nice little thing.

I suspect S4C's existence probably counted against C4 being partially based in Cardiff.

I quite like the suggestion that their base could be called Whiteley House...

Call for Channel 4 to remember Richard Whiteley when it moves

Sounds like a white wash to me.... I'll get my coat.

Not sure about you, but I was referring to the metro area. Not just the city itself, which is the obvious way to access a city influence especially in a context such a this. Using the council or historic boundary would not be an accurate measurement of a "City" as a whole. Greater Manchester's Media City is actually in Salford so....there's that. If you include the metropolitan area, Greater Manchester is 2nd or 3rd and Leeds is actually 4th. Some sources list Greater Manchester as 2nd. Thats debateable, but defo larger than Leeds. And Birmingham is NORTH of London so thats just being pedantic. So there's that....


2 Birmingham metropolitan area 3,683,000
3 Manchester metropolitan area 2,556,000
4 Leeds–Bradford metropolitan area 2,302,000
5 Liverpool–Birkenhead metropolitan area 2,241,000



1 (32) – London – 10,236,000
2 (170) – Manchester – 2,639,000
3 (183) – Birmingham-Wolverhampton – 2,512,000
4 (259) – Leeds-Bradford – 1,893,000
5 (390) – Glasgow – 1,220,000
6 (565) – Southampton-Portsmouth – 883,000
7 (570) – Liverpool – 875,000
8 (619) – Newcastle – 793,000
9 (650) – Nottingham – 755,000
10 (701) – Sheffield – 706,000
11 (776) – Bristol – 646,000
12 (824) – Belfast – 600,000
13 (942) – Leicester – 534,000

Manchester/Salford aren't a million miles away from Salford. They're not right next door, sure, but not so far away that if someone wanted to work in both it would be impossible to do so. It's possible that could have been another reason for Channel 4 being interested - it allows them to be alternative but also have a talent base nearby.

In the grand scheme of things Birmingham is too close to London, they may have considered that Glasgow is too far away (though if you're trying to cover the whole UK I'm not sure that should be a consideration), Cardiff is too aligned with S4C ... Leeds is an unpredictable yet pragmatic choice.