There used to be a bus depot to the right of the Flikr picture. It was demolished to make way for a road. This estate now has the staple post top cosmo Iridium fitted.
Back in the 80's, I never saw any mercury in Leeds. I'm guessing most went during the power crisis in the early 70's as most of the lanterns I remember as a kid fit the era of the 70's.
Most of the residential columns were still unsleeved in the 1980's, having been bulk sleeved in the 90's. Quite a few got MI26's fitted once they were sleeved and these appeared way brighter than the old Beta 5's were.I would guess that MBF lighting may have been phased out later than 1972/3 in Leeds, when Ted Heath's Tory government were gasping their last; probably more likely late '70s and early '80s.
I recall during the late 1970s that Wolverhampton Council began looking to SOX as a replacement for mercury lighting in the Borough's side streets (Sodium lighting on main roads being the norm for years). However, this didn't gain full momentum until the 1990s and even today, pockets of MBF remain if you know where to look. This course of action must have reflected elsewhere in the UK.