Social Life in Leeds 1660-1799 by Steve Burt

Leeds was a lively place in this period with regular dances for the elite at the Assembly Rooms, horse racing meetings on Chapeltown Moor, cricket matches, athletics, gambling and boxing matches all being a feature of the social calendar. This lecture illustrates the extraordinary lengths the middling sort went to in order to enjoy themselves. The working classes were more limited in their outlets for enjoyment with the annual feast being the highlight of the year.

Steven Burt is a regular sight around The Leeds Library as a long-standing member of the Thoresby Society and past vice-president. He was born and bred in Leeds and has extensive experience of communicating his enthusiasm for history and heritage through teaching, lecturing, leading guided tours, research, writing and broadcasting.

He is a former Museum Director of the Royal Armouries and was instrumental in setting up what is now the Thackray Museum of Medicine. He is also a Visiting Professor of History at the University of Huddersfield. In January 2026 he was lauded as a Leeds "Heritage Hero" by the Yorkshire Evening Post.