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Leeds travel guide

What to do, where to stay and why you’ll love it.

L eeds’ mettle was forged in the fires of the Industrial Revolution, which sealed its fate as a city of warehouses, grain stores and wharfs, with a scattering of sumptuous Victorian shopping arcades built on mercantile wealth. Today its charm is hard to measure by volume of tourist attractions or the calibre of its museums — of which there are few — but the city has spent the past decade dusting off its industrial relics and polishing its Victorian landmarks to create a buzzy personality.

A substantial student population keeps things lively, but in the past decade the city centre has thrown off its grungy image and moved increasingly upmarket. West Yorkshire’s largest city is an unabashed hedonist with plenty of winning options for bars, restaurants and retail. Its proximity to the Yorkshire Dales and country estates such as Harewood House and Temple Newsam is another draw.

People from the north of England flock here for shopping, weekend blowouts and events such as big-ticket theatre and Test cricket at Headingley. Channel 4’s relocation to Leeds has also put a renewed swagger in its step, helping to cement its position as Yorkshire’s cultural nexus . Plans are progressing for a year of culture in 2023, which got the green light after Brexit scuppered the city’s bid for European Capital of Culture.

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High-brow art fans should factor in time to explore Leeds’ half of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle, Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute. Afterwards, take measure of Leeds’ Victorian wealth with a pit stop in the art gallery’s colonnaded tiled café before pottering around the ornate covered shopping lanes signposted off Briggate.

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The best of these is the Victoria Quarter, where fountains and a grand piano set the scene for small designer stores beneath a stained-glass canopy. Dip into nearby Kirkgate Market, which still has a beautifully preserved hall of Victorian stalls off Vicar Lane, and a green commemorative clock marking the spot where Marks & Spencer launched its business in 1884.

Hop aboard the canary-yellow water taxi from lively Granary Wharf to sail past old warehouses to the Royal Armouries at Leeds Dock. This national museum holds one of the largest collections of arms and armoury in the world, with more than 45,000 objects, from 17th-century sabres to Mughal elephant chainmail. Walk an hour west from the city centre along the canal towpath to Leeds Industrial Museum to learn about West Yorkshire’s textile-manufacturing heyday.

You could also set aside some time to visit Kirkstall Abbey’s ruins. Founded in 1152 by Cistercian monks and now a suburban riverside park, it’s a 30-minute bus ride from Leeds city centre. It’s free to wander, and hosts popular food markets, cinema nights and festive pop-ups.

Where to stay

Leeds is undergoing a spate of hotel renovations and reopenings. There’s plenty of choice in the city centre, be it historical grande dames and slick contemporary chains or no-frills budget options and serviced apartments — but it lacks small trendy, boutique hotels.

Convenient for those arriving by train, the Queens* is directly linked to the station by its own private entranceway. It emerged from a £16 million redevelopment in summer 2021, reinstating the art deco behemoth’s rightful billing as one of the most desirable addresses in Leeds. Near by, Dakota* is another landmark hotel: very new, very slick, and very much on-trend thanks to visiting VIPs and celebrities.

Granary Wharf, at the Leeds to Liverpool canal basin, is the most atmospheric area of the city centre to bed down in. It’s the sort of place where locals crowd waterside bars and restaurants to watch boats slide by over glugs of craft beer and fairylight mirrors in the water after sundown. The area’s regeneration has taken off in tandem with its longstanding Double Tree by Hilton* , notable for its high south-facing roof terrace bar overlooking the canal.

Food and drink

Leeds has a stonkingly good independent food and drink scene built on a staunch appreciation of Yorkshire produce, passionate local chefs and imaginative branding. Beware, though, that lots of the best central options around Briggate and the Headrow have discreet entrances and are not immediately obvious to passers-by. One of these is Headrow House, which hosts the intimate British grill restaurant Ox Club inside a small 20th-century textile mill complex set back from the street.

Above the Headrow, North Street is a foodie strip grounded by the Reliance gastropub, known for natural wines and homemade charcuterie. It’s in the Northern Quarter — the star of which is indie favourite Belgrave Music Hall and the boisterous strip of small bars spilling down Merrion Street. Try legendary, sticky-floored Mojo for buzzy, wallet-friendly drinks.

For fine dining there’s Michael O’Hare’s Michelin-starred Man Behind the Curtain (bookings open five months ahead) and former MasterChef semi-finalist Liz Cottam’s Home. Kirkgate Market is also an unexpected hive of quality food — Cottam’s darkly lit Owl occupies Game Row, flying the flag for contemporary Yorkshire gastro-grub. There are cheap, tasty global food trucks inside a cavernous street-food hangar at the eastern end of the market.

Back on Briggate, you’ll find a number of small alleyways that hide pubs; the very best of these is Turk’s Head Yard, a narrow artery hosting ornately panelled Whitelock’s and the deco-inspired Turk’s Head bar.

Call Lane is the spiritual home of the city centre bar crawl, running amok on weekends, while the waterside bars at Granary Wharf are more low-key. Keep an eye out for Chow Down open-air events too. Lower Briggate is Leeds’ LGBTQI+ heartland, with Fibre and Viaduct Showbar two notable, friendly venues.

Beer is built into the DNA of Leeds, and indeed all of Yorkshire. The old Tetley headquarters has been converted into a restaurant-cum-gallery, but a number of craft breweries have taken up the mantle.

Award-winning Northern Monk’s brewery and exposed-brick taproom occupy a grade II listed flax mill in the Holbeck conservation area, south of Granary Wharf. Come to taste test special releases and then wander round the scattered mill relics.

North Brewing Co is the other big local craft brewery, with two bars in the city centre and a sprinkling in the suburbs, as well as a huge, shiny new taproom at Springwell — worth the short taxi ride north of the city centre. It’s especially good fun in warmer weather, when DJs spin tunes outside, razor-sharp servers circulate taking orders for beers, and the outside grills are fired up for Little Bao Asian street food.

Head 1.5 miles further north up the same road and you can make it a taproom crawl with a stop at laid-back Meanwood Brewery, a suburban favourite. Back in the north of the city centre, there’s also Assembly Underground, the neon-lit, clubby Leeds home of Hebden Bridge’s Vocation brewery.

Know before you go

If shopping is on the agenda, plan for the fact that many independent stores close on Sundays in Leeds. Likewise, culture-seekers should note that most Leeds museums don’t open on Mondays. The pint-sized city centre is easy to cover on foot, and Uber is a good option for longer distances. It’s best to leave the car at home unless you plan to travel around Yorkshire to see the Dales, visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, or stroll round nearby country estates.

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Last surviving gaslit cinema in world to reopen in Leeds

Exclusive: £4.8m refurbishment, which has taken eight years, will include extension to building, restored interior and 50-seat second screen

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When Hyde Park Picture House first opened its doors to the public shortly before the first world war, women were at the mercy of groping men, who used the darkness as a cover to carry out attacks.

It was such a problem that the owner of the Leeds cinema installed gas lamps in the auditorium in the hope of deterring would-be assailants.

One hundred and nine years later, as it reopens to the public on 30 June after a long-awaited £4.8m refurbishment, Hyde Park is thought to be the only surviving gaslit cinema in the world.

The beloved independent cinema has been closed for three years while renovators built an extension to the building and restored the historic interior, which produced some interesting discoveries.

“We found hatpins, which at the time the picture house opened were sometimes used [to stop] harassment,” said Ollie Jenkins, the marketing manager.

He explained how, in the early 20th century, hatpins became synonymous with women’s safety and the suffragette movement, and that many stories had emerged of women using pins to fend off groping attacks from men – so many, in fact, that a law was passed in 1908 limiting the length of hatpins due to a patriarchal fear of them being used as defensive weapons.

The cinema team ran Treasure Trash Tuesdays on social media, highlighting the sometimes mundane objects that were found during the restoration, including old Woodbine cigarette cartons, prewar KitKat wrappers and Lyons ice-cream tubs from the 1930s.

“It allowed us to explore a whole aspect of cinema history that had been forgotten, which people found really interesting,” Jenkins said.

Of the £4.8m raised for the restoration, £2.6m has come from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and half a million pounds from Leeds city council. The remainder was sourced from smaller grants and from the cinema’s many fans. Some sponsored seats at £150 each, while others paid for the restoration of the iconic streetlamp outside.

When workers removed the poster box from what had been the exterior wall, they found fragments of original film posters going back as far as the 1930s, which are now on the inside of the building.

A 2-metre basement excavation was the most costly and complicated part of the refurbishment, providing a 50-seat second screen which will open later in July and will “massively transform our programme”, Jenkins said.

“It’s hard to programme a single-screen cinema and it not be dominated by one film. For example, we put on Parasite when it opened, which was a brilliant film, but it was all we could show for two weeks. The second screen gives us a lot more options.”

In the foyer, another surprise was the original terrazzo floor, hiding in good condition below carpet and vinyl. New soundproofing has been added – “to make us a better neighbour” – and nine gaslights have been kept intact.

Before each screening, staff will turn on the gas and light each of the lamps in turn with a long lighter – the same process as when they were first installed shortly after the cinema opened in 1914, albeit with a few extra safety precautions.

Even with the initial funding in place, the much needed restoration has been touch-and-go due to the arrival of the pandemic and its effect on the finances of the nation’s theatres. Hyde Park Picture House is part of Leeds Heritage Theatres trust, which also runs the historic Grand and City Varieties theatres in Leeds, both Victorian venues that remain exceptionally popular.

While Covid put a halt to live performances, revenue dropped substantially, and it was months before the government’s £1.57bn rescue package was announced.

Chris Blythe, the chief executive of Leeds Heritage Theatres, said: “When we started work on the Picture House project in 2015, we had no idea of the challenges ahead and how long our original timeline would have to be extended. Nor did we fully appreciate the support and love so many people across the city and nationally would show for our cinema.”

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, the council’s executive member for economy, culture and education, said: It’s wonderful to know this venue’s unique character has been protected and preserved and that it will continue to welcome audiences for many more generations to come.”

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Section in Leeds Do & See With a fairly compact city centre, you can easily make your way around Leeds on foot, bus or by boat on the canal to the numerous museums, craft centres, night clubs, public houses, theatres or the opera. For a more relaxed approach to experiencing the city, take a leisurely stroll through the historic parks, gardens and battlefields. Read more

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Teenage boy found guilty of murder of Alfie Lewis, 15, outside Leeds school

Jury hears stabbing was witnessed by primary pupils in Horsforth last year and victim was ‘not the aggressor’

A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another teenager in the heart on the way home from school has been found guilty of murder.

Alfie Lewis, 15, was stabbed to death “in full view” of pupils leaving a primary school in the Horsforth area of Leeds last November.

A schoolboy, who was 14 at the time, admitted stabbing Alfie with a 13cm-long kitchen knife he had brought from home, but he denied murder, claiming he was scared for his life when he pulled out the weapon.

On Friday, a jury of five men and seven women at Leeds crown court convicted him of the offence.

Cries were heard from Alfie’s family who hugged each other as the verdict was announced. Most were wearing T-shirts with pictures of Alfie and the words: “Forever 15”.

The defendant, who cannot be named, showed no visible emotion when the verdict was read out. He held hands with his parents through a gap in the dock glass before being taken away.

The judge, Mr Justice Cotter, told the defendant: “You have been found guilty of murder. There is only one sentence I can pass. What I have to determine is how many years you will be detained before you are able to be released.”

The teenager will be sentenced on 21 June.

Opening the case last week, the prosecutor Craig Hassall KC said Alfie had been walking to meet friends at the end of the school day when the defendant attacked him close to St Margaret’s primary school in Horsforth just before 3pm on 7 November.

The prosecutor said Alfie was stabbed twice – once in the chest and once in the leg – in “full view of scores of pupils” leaving school. A postmortem examination revealed the fatal injury was a 14cm deep wound which punctured Alfie’s heart.

Hassall said all the witnesses were “consistent” in saying Alfie was “not the aggressor” that day.

Speaking outside court after the verdict, Alfie’s brother, Antony, thanked the jury.

Reading a statement on behalf of the family, he said: “The only justice we would want is for Alfie to come home.”

He added: “Most of all, we would like to say thank you to our Alfie for giving us all your love, joy, and humour and making us smile every day in the 15 years we had to enjoy and love you.”

The senior investigating officer, DCI Stacey Atkinson, said of the case: “It is a tragedy that illustrates the appalling consequences of knife crime.”

• Knife crime

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‘It’s shocking’: rise in UK shopping centre staff wearing stab vests as violence soars

‘Parents didn’t want their kids to be here’: inside the troubled London school that stopped excluding pupils and restored calm

‘It’s on our doorstep’: Bristol’s fearful parents seek answers after three knife deaths in three weeks

Ban won’t end knife crime, says founder of Bristol academy whose pupils died

‘Justice not served,’ says Nottingham victim’s mother as Valdo Calocane sentenced

Why I carried a knife: ‘The only way is to defend yourself. My life was under attack’

Idris Elba argues against mandatory prison sentences for carrying a knife

Starmer vows that Labour will ‘get a grip’ on knife crime

Google profiting from sale of zombie knives in UK despite claims of ban

Half of teenagers in England and Wales have witnessed or been victims of violence, study reveals

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