Sandwiched neatly between the two largest cities in West Yorkshire, Leeds and Bradford, Pudsey provides a dormitory role for skilled commuters who use the seat as a launch pad for their daily journeys to work, making the area affluent and middle-class in nature. Tory candidate Peter Bone's 1997 loss to Labour’s Paul Truswell, signalled an end to Conservative rule in this seat dating back to 1922.
Much of the housing in Pudsey is made up of rugged Pennine stone terraces, built prior to the First World War, which are scattered around functional semi-detached homes thrown up between the two world wars. Despite this somewhat misleading appearance, Pudsey remains an affluent and exclusive area, with hardly any non-white residents at all.
It boasts being the birthplace of cricketing heroes Sir Len Hutton, Brian Close and Ray Illingworth, as well as the fish and chip magnate Harry Ramsden.
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