Elland's own opticians, born and raised on these streets

Elland was already old when we arrived. It's recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as “Elant” — river land — and by the early 1300s the town had been granted its own royal charter for a Tuesday market by King Edward II. That market spirit never really left. Walk down Southgate today and you'll still find independent shops, a butcher, a baker, people who know your name — not a high street that could be anywhere.

The town's built from the stone beneath it. Elland flagstones were once quarried and shipped out across the county once the Calder and Hebble Navigation canal opened, and that same durable local stone is still in the walls and pavements you'll walk past on your way to us. The 14th-century Elland Bridge, a scheduled ancient monument, still carries foot traffic over the Calder exactly where it always has.

Elland has punched above its weight in other ways too. The Elland Silver Band, formed in the mid-1800s, is still one of the oldest brass bands in the country. Suma Wholefoods, one of the UK's largest worker cooperatives, is based here. And if you've ever wondered why Leeds United play at “Elland Road” despite being nowhere near us — it's simply the old road that once led here, a small reminder of how far this town's name has travelled.

We opened our doors in Elland in the 1960s. Like the town itself, we've changed a fair bit since then — a different name, a different look, more than one refit — but the commitment behind the counter hasn't moved an inch. We're still here because this is a town worth being part of, and because so many of the families who first walked through our door decades ago are the grandparents and now great-grandparents of the patients we see today.