By Emma Gardner, co-founder and director at Aubergine
I remember when I was first looking to move up to Leeds from London back in 2013, my colleagues at Channel 4 News and the BBC thought I was a little bit mad. Why would I want to move to a city a fraction the size of London with not nearly much freelance journalism work available?
Well, I was willing to take the gamble because I was ready for a life where I could afford more than a small one bedroom flat and where I could access the countryside and fresh air, within just a few minutes. Don’t get me wrong, London is a wonderful place, but cramming onto the Underground with hundreds of other people didn’t have the same appeal anymore - and I wanted to be near friends and family.
At the time, broadcast journalism jobs in Leeds were scarce so I spent quite a few months commuting over to BBC Media City in Manchester to work for the current affairs teams at The One Show and Inside Out.
The work was great, but commuting left a sour taste in my mouth. It involved getting on the clunky and slow train from Leeds to Manchester every day then connecting with the tram; a journey that took the best part of 1.5 hours. I’d be up at 6am every day and not home until after 8pm - hardly the idealistic way of life I’d pictured for myself up north.
It soon became apparent that if I wanted to work in an industry that would enable me to use my national journalism expertise, but stay in Leeds, PR was the answer. I never looked back, and eight years on I’ve set up a food, drink, health and tech PR agency with my best friend, Verity.
Seeing Channel 4 set up its headquarters in Leeds a few years back did make me wonder, if I still worked as a journalist maybe I’d find it a bit easier to find work here now? I think I would.
It was wonderful to see the confirmation that the BBC is preparing to move many national journalism roles from London to the north. There will be a new version of BBC One tailored to northern audiences, and the BBC Learning and Identity News team is moving to Leeds. With Channel 4 already having its headquarters in the city, this gives it another massive boost.
A separate Guardian article said that although BBC staff would probably be offered relocation packages if their jobs move to Leeds, the experience of Channel 4 suggests many are unlikely to leave London which would create more jobs in the northern city.
I do think that over time, Leeds will become a media hub similar in scale to Manchester. The more jobs that are created here, the greater the pull will be for others to move, thereby growing the talent pool ever further.
Here at Aubergine, we’re thrilled to see so many media jobs being created in the north. For one thing, it makes our work in PR so much easier as we’re able to forge important relationships with journalists that live here. Furthermore, with focus increasingly shifting away from London and more emphasis on news coverage and voices being heard in the media up here, it also means our clients have more chance of being profiled.