Days Out - things to do and events in Leeds

Preview Leeds Valentines Fair, Elland Road

Europe's first and largest Valentine's fair returns to Elland Road for its 12th year running, we look at what's in store this February

Forget a candle-lit romantic dinner for two, the Leeds Valentines Fair is back and guarantees an unforgettable night of heart racing, pulse raising adventure for you and your loved one – St. Valentine would be proud.

Back at Elland Roadand opening on Thursday 9th February, the fair is celebrating its 21st birthday in Leeds with a bang. On Thursday 16th Februaryfrom 8.30pm onwards visitors and fellow ride junkies can enjoy a giant firework display as well as over 150 attractions.

Fed up of the waltzers? A ride that will literally have you head over heels is Top Buzz. As…

Read more... | See all articles in Days Out

Preview Ice Cube Returning to Leeds

The giant skate rink returns to Millennium Square from 27th January

Here’s one reason to feel less gloomy after the excitement of the festive period has resided. Ice Cube is coming back to the city centre for the 12^th year running, and this time it’s had a makeover.

The Ice Cube, organised by Leeds City Council, will be back at Millennium Square between 27^th January and the 26^th February and due to customer feedback, will now include a main, more family focused rink as well as a conjoining nursery rink for younger children.

These are not the only changes which have been made; the event will include a 30-metre dry…

Read more... | See all articles in Family

Feature Opera North's Little Voices

Tom Goodhand attends a drama and music group designed for parents and their babies or toddlers in the wonderful Howard Assembly Room

Opera North has long been established as one of Leeds’ premier arts companies, and the opening of the Howard Assembly Room in January 2009 gave them a home, a venue that they can call their own. The room has acted in the past as a musical hall, a cinema and an adult cinema, before closing in the mid-80s until Opera North reopened it.

As a built-for-purpose venue which has had significant acoustic work done on it by Opera North, the Howard Assembly Room is an acoustically superb space, built to make the very best of the sounds that…

Read more... | See all articles in Family

Preview Yorkshire Christmas Theatre Shows

A look at the seasonal offerings at West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Carriageworks, Harrogate Theatre, Leeds City Varieties, Alhambra, Sheffield Lyceum and York Theatre Royal

Typically Christmas theatre is a jaunt through the familiar. So it proves at West Yorkshire Playhouse, but not in the typical sense. For the festive hegemony of Mike Kenny (author) and Gail McIntyre (director) in the Courtyard auditorium continues for a fifth consecutive year.

When we interviewed Kenny in 2008, he spoke of an urge to adapt Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen in a fashion indebted to neither Disney nor panto. Paradoxically, that piece was the only one of his five ‘Big Stories for Little People’ that isn’t a stock panto, and the reflection hence applies more…

Read more... | See all articles in Family

News Searching for a Secret Millionaire

Channel 4's Secret Millionaire came to Leeds on 27th November and a donation was made to local chairty Simon on the Streets

It’s the eon of email at our fingertips, social media sites bringing breaking news, and very few things more than a Google away – but it seems we still underestimate the power of the internet. The charity Simon on the Streets has received a phenomenal donation of £35,000 after it was provided with search engine optimisation (SEO), making it possible for Secret Millionaire, Charles Allen, to get in touch with the organisation.

The Leeds-based homeless charity was provided with free SEO recommendations from Search Laboratory, taking it from online obscurity to the top of search engine rankings. This stroke…

Read more... | See all articles in Events

Feature Getaway Special: Pinch the Pennies

We try out York's cheap but luxurious hostel, The Fort

York is one of the most visited cities in the UK and The Shambles was last year voted the most picturesque street in Britain in the Google Street View Awards. But despite living 20 miles away, I’ve never stayed in the city past about 5pm – marking as it does shop closing time or the full-time whistle at Bootham Crescent, depending on my inclination towards yelling at referees vs a new pair of tights.

With the recent opening of The Fort, a one-of-a-kind boutique hostel in the city centre, I spotted my opportunity to change all that.

Opened above Kennedy’s…

Read more... | See all articles in Days Out

Feature Getaway Special: Blow the Budget

The reviving experience at Rudding Park's new Follifoot Wing is worth every penny, writes Ali Schofield

We arrive at Rudding Park on a Friday evening, tired and hungry after a devil of a working week. We come away on the Saturday afternoon feeling satisfied and, in my case, looking about 10 years younger. It’s not something you would expect from a hotel stay, but Rudding Park has even won the accolade of Best Hotel in the UK before now, so youth-reviving as standard perhaps shouldn’t be such a surprise. As it is, I’d enjoyed a revolutionary treatment, the Pro-Lift Diamond Facial by Carita, in the hotel’s recently opened spa.

The French luxury skincare brand’s Pro-Lift treatment…

Read more... | See all articles in Days Out

Feature Howard Assembly Room Becomes a Leeds City Centre Wedding Venue

Opera North's performance space is Leeds' latest wedding venue and host of the LOVE weddings experience on 2nd October

Within our fair city lies a hidden gem, a subtle reminder of Leeds’ historic culture. The Howard Assembly Room at the Leeds Grand Theatre, programmed by Opera North, represents the perfect marriageof historical elegance and modern eclecticism. The transformed venue, which reopened two years ago, is well known as a performance space and theatrical rehearsal room but, unbeknown to many, is also Leeds’ most up and coming wedding venue.

Standing apart from other wedding locations in the area with its stunning Grade II* listed architecture, arched windows and high, barrel-vaulted ceiling, the Howard Assembly Room is one…

Read more... | See all articles in Events

Feature Summer Days Out

Make the most of our summer with some great family-friendly outdoor activities in and around Leeds

For many of us, the default option for a summer’s day is to head straight to the nearest beer garden and spend those fleeting moments of sunshine soaking up rays and alcohol. However, it’s worth remembering that Leeds and West Yorkshire are blessed with some stunning scenery and great outdoor activities. Want proof? Try any of these for size…

YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK

We’d happily take a trip out to the YSP if there was nothing there but the lakes, rolling hills, livestock and majestic unspoiled landscapes. As it is though, the Yorkshire…

Read more... | See all articles in Days Out

Review Red Bull's Flugtag

Homemade flying machines take to the air over the lake in Roundhay Park

15,000 people streamed into Roundhay Park on the 17^th July as Red Bull’s annual UK Flugtag came to Leeds. For those not acquainted with the concept, a Flugtag is where competitors attempt to fly homemade ‘flying machines’ off a pier into water of some kind, in this case the lake in Roundhay park.

Predictably, it was raining one the day, but this didn’t dampen the crowds’ spirits as they cheered on the 34 teams from the opposite side of the lake. The crowd was even treated to a spectacular aerobatic display at half time by the Red Bull…

Read more... | See all articles in Days Out