Northern Monk brewery is hosting the UK's first hop-led beer festival this weekend.
Taking place at its Sydenham Road brewery site for the first time ever, it will bring over 100 different beers down this weekend over the course of two days - kicking things off on Friday 6 August.
Local breweries confirmed to attend include Kirkstall, Northern Monk (of course), and Bundobust with a huge amount of UK breweries turning up across the weekend.
UK brews appearing over the duration of the festival will come from the likes of Bonzoko, Newtown Park, Future State, Neon Raptor, Deya, Mash Gang, Alpha Delta, Floc, North, Pipeline, Vicington, Polly's, Wylam, Beak, Track, Buxton, Zafato, Overtone, Pomona Island, Verdant, Boxcar, Mikkeller and Amity.
Beer lovers are completely spoilt for choice - and that's not all, as there's going to be some great street food and music going down here too.
Parmogeddon will be rocking up to Hop City this weekend / Image: Parmogeddon
There'll be four different food caterers rocking up over the weekend, including the legendary Parmogeddon and Manchester's Kong's Chicken Shop with their must-try fried chicken sandwiches - which incorporate an extra layer of chicken skin 'crackling' for extra texture and flavour.
Kong's are also known for their tater tots and fried chicken wings, which can be ordered either wet or dry depending how you like them.
And on the music front, across two days we'll see the likes of DJ Food, DJ Format, DJ Cheeba and FIngathing take to the decks as well as enjoying some live music from Leeds' exciting forward-thinking jazz-punk band Vipertime on Friday.
Vipertime will be making an appearance on Friday, 6 August / Image: Viper Time
Manchester's Jermain Peterson, meanwhile, will be bringing the soothing soul sounds on Saturday afternoon, followed by a closing DJ set from Dave Stone of Wylam Brewery fame.
It looks set to be a mega weekend, with free-flowing beer, an eclectic music line-up and some mouthwatering food traders all lined up for the weekend.
Further breweries set to attend include Other Half, Aslin, Tripping Animals, The Answer, Vitamin Sea, Great Notion, Equilibrium, Suds and Soda, Sierra Navada.
For the full list, head to Hop City's Instagram page here.
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Get Baked’s viral ‘Bertha’ cake has a sister on the way – and she sounds just as cheeky
She's big, she's green and she's ready to ruin your figure.
A lot of you will have seen the viral ‘Bertha’ cake by Leeds born beloved sweet treat specialists Get Baked.
They recently opened another site in Manchester's Northern Quarter, where queues literally formed round the block of hungry punters wanting to get their hands on the infamous sugary treats.
And now it's going to happen all over again, as they've recently unveiled their newest flavour which is sure to go down a storm.
We’ll give you a hint: it’s a current food and drink trend that’s about as big as Bertha herself – it’s not matcha, it’s not hot honey (duh), and it’s not Guinness…
Images: Get Baked
Yes—scratch that; HELL YES!Get Baked is set to welcome Bertha’s equally beautiful twin sister, and she’s officially a pistachio girlie.
Having started out life simply as ‘Bruce’, after taking inspiration from the iconic scene from Matilda, this thing has become a phenomenon in its own right, and who doesn’t like more flavours of a good thing?
Probably one of the biggest foodie crazes going at the minute, thanks to the popularity of pistachio cream, cookies, lattes and the similar social media sensation that is the ‘Dubai Pistachio Bar' people are rather fittingly going nuts for this particular flavour of almost absolutely anything.
With that in mind, the Leeds-born bakery and dessert shop – founded by Rich Myers over in Headingley back in 2011 – have shown no hesitation in hopping on the bandwagon and creating a new twist on their own viral menu item.
Teasing the full details in a post on their Instagram this week, they wrote: “What’s big, green, and is going to destroy your life in a couple of weeks’ time? Pistachio Bertha. Strictly limited to 5,000 slices. Coming oh so soon. GB.”
In case you were wondering just how mad those with a sweet tooth could possibly go for a slice of cake, just look at the recent queues when they finally launched in Manchester city centre:
Speaking on the grand opening here on our turf and his partner Amy’s hometown, Myers said simply: “Manchester, what a launch. Thanks for much for the warm welcome. Stay baked.”
Leeds Tattoo Expo to return to the First Direct Arena for 10th anniversary
Clementine Hall
The tenth annual Leeds Tattoo Expo will showcase some of the best in tattooing both local and internationally.
If you fancy getting yourself a fancy new bit of ink, then look no further than the iconic Leeds Tattoo Expo that will be returning to the First Direct Arena this June.
Taking place on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 June 2025, over 200 tattooists and 70 traders will be flocking to the city to show off their skills.
And not only that, but there’ll also be a whole host of market traders for you to browse as well as live music to have a boogie to.
The artists will be tattooing with options for both pre-booked appointments and walk ups available throughout the weekend.
Image: Leeds Tattoo Expo
There will also be a piercer, tooth gems and a henna artist ready to adorn your body.
Alongside getting tattooed, there’s plenty to do and to see over the whole weekend; there'll be an alternative drawing class, an illustrators market with kids’ workshops provided by Art Gecko, an art fusion event on the main stage, burlesque performances and competitions, a small vintage clothing pop-up, fire breathing and break dancing demonstrations in the square outside the arena.
The annual tattoo competitions will also be taking place each evening, where tattooists showcase their work to a panel of judges, sponsored by Killer Ink!
To celebrate Leeds Tattoo Expo's tenth anniversary, they'll be hosting a Pre-Party at Belgrave Music Hall on Thursday 5 June which is a completely free entry event complete with live music and free pizza.
You can find out more about the event and book your tickets here via the First Direct Arena's website.
Georgina Pellant -
6th August 2021 
