The opening of the Virgin Megastore was music to the ears of record fans while a Gladiator stopped off in the city centre to open a Boar Lane restaurant. Elsewhere a well known TV prankster handed a surprise package to a junior rugby league coach. This was Leeds in 1996 and Leeds’s reputation as the ‘Knightsbridge of the North’ was further enhanced thanks to the official opening of the Harvey Nichols store on Briggate. These photos, plucked from the YEP archive, also feature memories from the city’s suburbs with Crossgates, Yeadon, Seacroft and Burley in focus. READ MORE: 34 loved and lost Leeds nightclubs you visited back in the day LOVE LEEDS? LOVE NOSTALGIA? Join Leeds Retro on facebook YEP RETRO NEWSLETTER: Sign up for our free monthly email digest of Leeds nostalgia
1. Leeds city centre
Tv personality Zoe Ball signs autographs at the new Virgin Megastore at the Leeds Shopping Plaza on Albion Street in November 1996. | Roy Fox Photo: Roy Fox
2. Leeds city centre
TV's Gladiator Warrior opened the Old Orleans restaurant on Boar Lane. He is pictured lifting waitress Lyndsay Hamilton of her feet. | James Hardisty Photo: James Hardisty
3. Chapeltown
A new outdoor chess park opened in Chapletown. Pictured are Grand Masters in the making Ella Farrar Durrant and Jayde Carlton. | Bruce Greer Photo: Bruce Greer
4. Leeds Classic
Chris Boardman leads the peloton on the climb over Oxenhope Moor to Hebden Bridge during the early stages of the Leeds Classic in August 1996. | Bruce Rollinson Photo: Bruce Rollinson
5. Leeds city centre
Crowds gathered outside the new Harvey Nichols store on Briggate for the long awaited official opening in October 1996. | James Hardisty Photo: James Hardisty
6. Leeds city centre
Ghostly goings on in Hirst's Yard. The haunting image of Woodbine Lizzy, alias Michael Facer, one of the guides for the Leeds Ghosts Guided walk in October 1996. | Bruce Rollinson Photo: Bruce Rollinson