Dennis Morton heads to Morley to discover why the Leeds suburb is proving to be an increasingly popular place to live.
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00:00Earlier this year, estate agent Manning Stainton told us about Morley, the market town in Leeds that is, in their words, exploding in popularity.
00:10To find out exactly what makes this town so special, I've come here to speak to locals and business owners to find out for myself.
00:18My name's Janet Foxton and I'm the owner of DW Hunt Florist in Morley, yeah.
00:24You're from Morley originally?
00:26I am, born and bred, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:28What would you say is the best thing about Morley?
00:32The people. We've got plenty of shops, we've got free car parking, we've got a lot going on, you know, we could do with a bit more, but we're doing our best, you know.
00:45You have to try to keep your head above water and hope that we get some footfall when the weather's nice and everything, you know, and just keep going, basically.
00:55What brings you to Morley, everything?
00:56Er, there's the building society, which I visit on a regular basis, there's Morrison's supermarket, and that we're all the fine butchers, Bennett's up there.
01:08What do you think of Morley in general as a town?
01:11It's, er, this is very nice.
01:14It's lovely, yeah, it's a lovely place, yeah.
01:16So in your 38 years, how do you think Morley's changed?
01:21It hasn't changed a bit.
01:22Has it?
01:23No, I don't think it has. I mean, the shops, obviously, they're gone, you know, it was a shame.
01:27Too many nail bars, not enough shops, you know, that kind of thing. Too many cafes.
01:33But it's just a lovely place. I love it, yeah. People are nice. Everybody's nice.
01:42We're fighting desperately to keep our post office here because we desperately, desperately need it, you know.
01:47But if we had a bit more variation, it would go back to how it was when I was a child, when I were a young girl, do you know what I mean?
01:56Because you could buy anything in Morley, anything at all.
01:59You know, you didn't have to go White Rose and down into Central Leeds.
02:03You could just buy it here in the town, you know, and that's what it needs doing.
02:08What are you doing in Morley today?
02:10Riding out the skate park.
02:12This is your first time here?
02:13Yeah.
02:14What do you think of the skate park here?
02:16It's really fun and there's lots of ramps to play on.
02:20Is there anything else you would like to see here?
02:24More people playing on the ramps and things like that.
02:28It's been quite an influx of younger people in the last few years, young professionals and stuff like that.
02:33Yeah.
02:34Do you think that is reflected in sort of the new businesses that you see popping up?
02:38I think it has, yeah. I think it's not doing too bad.
02:42But my argument is all these young people, no disrespect to you, they buy online, get in gear and come into town.
02:50Come into the shops and feed the town, you know, and help support us instead of just buying stuff online and getting it delivered by vans all the time.
03:00Anyway, thank you.