It was the year more than 100 years of frying tonight history ended at a city centre restaurant. The doors closed for the last time after tea at Youngman’s off Briggate in February 1989. “It is a sad day for us all,” said William Bettison, whose wife Sylvia was the grand-daughter of Robert Youngman who founded the business in 1885. George Cooke and his wife Ivy, who were due to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in the July, used to go to Youngman’s when they were courting and were among the last customers. “It’s a shock for us. We shan’t know where to go instead.” The story is one of 23 photo memories which chart life around Leeds city centre in 1989. It was also a 12 months which the unveiling of an intriguing brick design on an approach road into Leeds which had left motorists scratching their heads for weeks. All was revealed in June 1989 when council chiefs officially presented to the city the 25ft design - which read ‘Welcome to Leeds’ - in a ceremony marking the completion of a £30,000 scheme to brighten up the city’s southern gateway. More than 7,000 multi-coloured bricks were used to make up the words in the design, which today still stands proud on a steep banking near Parkfield Street. Leeds City Council’s parks staff added a splash of colour with hundreds of summer bedding plants. The images are a mix from the YEP archive and others published courtesy of photographic archive Leodis, which is run by Leeds Library & Information Service. They also run heritage blog The Secret Library Leeds, which provides a behind the scenes look at the Central Library and highlights from its special collections, including rare books hidden away in the stacks. READ MORE: Lost city centre landmarks - The Leeds Skywalk LOVE LEEDS? LOVE NOSTALGIA? Join Leeds Retro on facebook YEP RETRO NEWSLETTER: Sign up for our free monthly email digest of Leeds nostalgia
13. Leeds city centre
August 1989 and black and whites line up in chess board fashion on York Place where twin sets of bollards has been set up. | YPN Photo: YPN
14. Leeds city centre
January 1989 and three firms - butchery business R. V Smith, chandler's C. W Carr and wholesale clothing firm Wharf Hoisery - appealed to the Prince of Wales to save their Victorian premises from developers. The companies on The Calls and Wharfe Street also warned that dozens of jobs could be lost of they were forced to move. | YPN Photo: YPN
15. Leeds city centre
February 1989 and this footbridge used by tourists and visitors gave a 'deplorable impression' of the city because of its bad state and design, claimed the Civic Trust. It had written to the chairman of Leeds City Council's highways, engineering and cleansing committee, drawing his attention to the unsatisfactory condition of the footbridge linking Great George Street and Woodhouse Square. | YPN Photo: YPN
17. Leeds city centre
November 1989 and Leeds Town Hall was poised to become as familiar as Big Ben for the thousands of civil servants who were expected to move to the city from Whitehall. But some staff were reluctant to accept the £8,000 and other benefits for those who headed North. | YPN Photo: YPN
18. Leeds city centre
November 1989 and Queen's Court, off Lower Briggate, had been rescued from the bulldozers and given a new lease of life as a major stopping off point on the Great Leeds Cloth Trail, a tour taking in the city's illustrious links with the woollen trade. | YPN Photo: YPN