Author: Paul David

Leeds does not chase coffee trends. It builds them slowly, locally, and with confidence. This is a city where queues form early on Saturday mornings, where baristas roast their own beans, and where regulars debate roasters with the same intensity reserved for football clubs. With more than 500 coffee shops across the city and the vast majority independently owned, Leeds has developed one of the strongest local coffee scenes in the UK. Searching for the best cafes in Leeds is less about novelty and more about finding places that people return to week after week. I’ve watched this scene evolve…

Leeds is entering a defining period for its food and drink sector. Over the coming months, a cluster of high-profile openings will bring renewed energy to the city centre and surrounding districts, signalling confidence in a hospitality market that has spent several years navigating economic pressure. These new restaurants in Leeds are arriving with a mix of national recognition and local ambition, reshaping perceptions of the city as a serious dining destination. For much of the past decade, Leeds has often operated in the shadow of Manchester when it came to attracting major restaurant brands. The current pipeline suggests that…

The Leeds weather 14 day forecast matters more than most people realise. In a city where school runs, commuting patterns, football fixtures and weekend plans are all shaped by the weather, looking beyond tomorrow offers real value. Leeds sits just east of the Pennines, where Atlantic systems meet colder continental air, meaning conditions here often differ from broader UK forecasts. This locally focused Leeds weather 14 day forecast looks at what the coming fortnight means in practical terms for people living and working across the city. Week one outlook: unsettled but manageable for Leeds The first week of the Leeds…

Leeds has quietly become one of the UK’s most exciting food cities. Not with the noise of London or the constant comparison to Manchester, but through a steady build of independent restaurants, Michelin-recommended kitchens, and a street food culture that genuinely reshaped how Britain eats casually. Long before food halls became fashionable, Leeds launched Trinity Kitchen in 2013, rotating independent traders under one roof. That same independent mindset now defines the best restaurants in Leeds, from Kirkgate Market’s Punjabi counters to open-fire grills serving Yorkshire beef in the city centre. This is not a tourist list. It is written from…

Leeds, Yorkshire: Wednesday, January 28, 2026 | Last updated: 8:39 AM Yorkshire is dealing with hazardous conditions this morning as Storm Chandra Yorkshire LIVE updates continue, with ice warnings, flood alerts and widespread travel disruption affecting Leeds and surrounding areas. After heavy rain and strong winds battered the region on Tuesday, temperatures dropped overnight, leaving untreated roads and pavements icy across much of Yorkshire. LIVE UPDATES: Storm Chandra Yorkshire LIVE 08:30 AM: Ice Warning Active Across Yorkshire Yellow ice warnings remain in force this morning following yesterday’s rainfall. Clearing skies overnight caused temperatures to fall below freezing, creating dangerous conditions…

Storm Chandra is moving across West Yorkshire today, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and a renewed risk of localised flooding to Leeds. From early-morning commuters to parents on the school run, the impact is already being felt across the city as unsettled weather continues to disrupt daily routines. For Leeds residents, the concern is not just today’s rain but the condition of already saturated ground following weeks of unsettled weather. As the storm lingers, authorities are urging caution, particularly in flood-prone areas and on key transport routes. What People in Leeds Are Experiencing Today Rain settled in across Leeds during…

Rising bills, warmer homes, and safer school routes. Those are the real-world changes landing on doorsteps across the city right now, as leeds council news continues to be dominated by budget decisions that will shape daily life in Leeds throughout 2026 and beyond. At the centre of it all is a council trying to square an impossible circle. After years of squeezed funding, Leeds City Council has welcomed an extra £43.5 million from Westminster this year. But that money barely dents the pressure coming from social care, which now consumes around 60 per cent of the entire budget. Councillors still…

Walk through leeds city centre on any given week and you’ll notice something: it looks different. Not the wholesale transformation promised years ago, but something more incremental. A closed bar here. A new coffee shop there. Construction hoardings blocking half of Great George Street. The kind of gradual churn that happens when a city is caught between ambition and economic reality. This is not about listing every opening or recycling press releases. It is about what has actually shifted in how leeds city centre feels, functions and serves the people who use it day in, day out. Retail in Leeds…

Every June, you can feel it even from West Yorkshire. Trains heading south are busier, group chats light up with weekend plans, and by Friday afternoon plenty of Leeds festivalgoers are already on the move. Parklife 2026 is almost here, and once again Manchester is preparing for a weekend that stretches far beyond the boundaries of Heaton Park. From a Leeds perspective, Parklife has become the closest thing the North has to a true metropolitan festival. It is not a rural escape and it is not a camping rite of passage. It is a city-scale event that pulls tens of…

In January 2026, a severe G4 geomagnetic storm pushed the aurora borealis far south from its Arctic home, producing rare sightings across England. In West Yorkshire, some Leeds residents who ventured outside that evening reported faint pinks and greens stretching across the Northern Lights Leeds sky. It was not Iceland or Norway, but back gardens, local parks, and nearby moorland. Events like this raise a recurring question. Can the northern lights leeds really be seen, or are such sightings exaggerated? The answer is measured and grounded in science. Northern lights Leeds sightings are real, but uncommon, and they require a…