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News Trinity Leeds Project Restarts In August

Leeds is given a major boost as the huge shopping centre is put firmly back on track

It has been announced that the Trinity Leeds shopping centre has been given the go-ahead, with building due to start in August. The £350m project was scrapped back in May 2009 owing to recessional cutbacks-and is now the first of its kind to get back on its feet after the credit crunch. Employment in Leeds is set to benefit, as during its construction the centre will create 1,000 jobs - and after opening, that amount will treble to make 3,000 permanent retail vacancies.

The project will redevelop the Trinity Quarter around Briggate, Commercial Street, Albion Street and Boar Lane, measuring in…

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News Yorkshire Forward On The Brink

Hundreds of local jobs in question amid spending cuts

The Labour Party’s legacy is being further obliterated by the Conservatives and Lib Dems as Yorkshire Forward, Yorkshire and the Humber’s regional development agency (RDA), is set to be scrapped – in its current form at least. The coalition government has confirmed Yorkshire Forward’s annual £270m budget has been reduced by £40.2m, although it isn’t targeting just Yorkshire and the Humber’s 11 year-old RDA – funds allocated to all the others are being drastically cut too.

Through the Public Bodies Bill, the government has made it clear that RDAs will ultimately be scrapped entirely, a move it says could…

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Preview Create your dream bedroom in a shoebox

Make a shoebox bedroom with Hayley Louise Goodsell

Creating a micro-bedroom in a shoebox is very appealing: there doesn’t have to be any clutter, socks on the floor or tiresome hoovering to do. And what’s even better, you get the chance to create the room of your dreams: it could be a replica of your childhood bedroom, a room from a reverie, one from a mysterious photograph or something completely surreal.

The Leeds-based artist Hayley Louise Goodsell is inviting you to create your dream bedroom in her Shoebox Bedrooms workshop on Saturday 14th August. It will take place from 11am to 4pm at the Stanley and Audrey Burton…

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Food Review Jamie's Italian

The first Northern branch of Jamie Oliver's Italian chain opens up in Leeds, Tom Goodhand heads over to see if it lives up to its proprietor's good name

Jamie Oliver is a massive celebrity in this country. He’s known for his chummy, cockney laddish ways, his obsession with stopping kids getting fat, his stint as a drummer in post-Brit-pop also-rans Scarlet Division, and, most of all, being a bloody good chef with a slew of television series and cookery books to prove it. It’s fair to say that new Leeds restaurant Jamie’s Italian had a fair amount to live up to.

So is it any cop? Well, as Jamie himself might say, it’s all pretty “pukka”. Based in a former bank on Park Row, we walk in to…

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Wish You Were Here Portland Place, Calverley Street

Poke your nose round the door of the hottest city centre properties

Price: £209,950 (leasehold)

Where? Everyone knows it’s all about location, location, location – and they don’t come much better than this. This superb apartment is situated within a small development adjacent to Millennium Square and the Civic Hall, which is not only a lovely part of town but also perfectly located for enjoying all the amenities of the city centre. This part of town is home to medics, lawyers and other high-flying professionals, so not surprisingly it offers an incredible range of facilities. This district is also home to two of Leeds’ finest buildings, the Town Hall and Leeds General…

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Interview Melvin Benn

We speak to the man behind Leeds Festival

“I run Glastonbury Festival, a festival in Norway called Hove, Latitude Festival, The Big Chill, Reading and Leeds Festivals, and a festival in Ireland called Electric Picnic. I think it’d be fair to say that I’ve got the best festivals.

” I started the Leeds Festival in 1999. I’d wanted a festival in the north of England for a long time and as I’m a Yorkshireman, I wanted it to be in Yorkshire.

“At that time there was a fantastic director of culture at Leeds City…

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