The North Leeds Food Festival is back for another year- and it's bringing a whole host of foodie favourites and up-and-coming independent to Roundhay Park for an entire weekend.
Spread across two day, the annual North Leeds Food Festival will run from Saturday 14 May - Sunday 15 May 2022 with artisan produce aplenty.
Named Market Street, stalls from independent craft and produce vendors will line the park with small batch goods, including Mallow Gourmet Marshmallows, Screaming Chimp Chilli Sauce and flavours from around the world.
Returning this year with highly-anticipated the Live Cookery Theatre, Leeds Cookery School will be rustling up some easy-to-make foodie specials for all ages to try whilst live chef demonstrations will allow you and your company to learn how to make speciality dishes from your own home.
If that's not enough, there will be deckchairs aplenty to lounge on, independent bar service from North Brew Co Ale House, with speciality cider, gin and wine bars- including some fresh coconut cocktail offerings.
Live music will keep the audience entertained from beginning to sunset and a host of family-friendly performers will ensure that all ages are left in awe or hysterics at their unique talents.
Think acclaimed hypnotists, magicians and top-rated comedians with family-friendly jokes each taking turns to line up around Roundhay Park whilst you unwind with a picnic of food collected from independent stallholders: it's going to be a lot of fun.
Image: North Leeds Food Festival
Collaborating with local artists to create graphic or hand-drawn interpretations of the event itself is just one of the ways that the North Leeds Food Festival puts community at the heart of its cause. Roundhay Park's North Leeds Food Festival also works with local charities and non-profits to share their earnings with causes for good in the community.
The festival has already raised over £45,000 for mental health charities like Mind, a national non-profit that supports people of all ages with mental illnesses.
Quoted as a "reyt good afternoon", this foodie haven is certainly worth a trip to the leafy suburb of Roundhay.
Tickets cost £7.95 for adults and £4.50 for under 16s by the day, with under 5s free of charge. If you're looking to spend a full weekend here, tickets cost just £12.95 per person.
For more information, including how to book your tickets for the food fest from Saturday 14 May - Sunday 15 May 2022 visit the North Leeds Food Festival website.
The Wombats aren’t just still going strong - they’re getting better. And honestly? Long may they reign.
The Wombats absolutely tore the roof off the First Direct Arena in Leeds last night, Wednesday 26 March and what a night it was.
From the second they hit the stage it wasn’t just a gig, it was a full-blown indie-pop spectacle, packed with infectious energy, nostalgia, and a whole lot of dancing.
They kicked things off with “Moving to New York,” and honestly? The crowd was in from the first note.
Image: The Hoot Leeds
Matthew Murphy’s unmistakable vocals rang through the arena and suddenly, thousands of people were screaming every lyric like it was 2007 all over again. It was one of those moments where you could just feel how much this band still means to people.
Despite the massive venue, The Wombats somehow made it feel intimate. The lights? Pure chaos in the best way - vibrant, colourful, and totally in sync with the band’s wild, bouncy sound.
Murphy’s cheeky banter between songs made it feel less like a polished arena show and more like a jam session with a few thousand of your closest mates.
Setlist-wise, they nailed it. “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” and “Greek Tragedy” had the whole place losing it, while the stripped-down version of “Techno Fan” gave everyone a minute to breathe (and maybe get a little emotional).
Image: The Hoot Leeds
Those quieter moments just made the high-energy choruses hit even harder. It was a rollercoaster - in the best way possible.
Then came the encore. If you thought the crowd was loud before, “Kill the Director” took things to another level. Pure, chaotic indie bliss. The kind of moment you don’t want to end.
Here’s the thing about The Wombats: some might say their older songs hit harder than their newer stuff, but is that just nostalgia talking? Or maybe it’s a generational thing?
Either way, they proved they’re still one of the most exciting live bands out there. They’ve still got the hooks, the humour, and the ability to turn a massive arena into a sweaty, euphoric singalong.
Get Baked’s viral ‘Bertha’ cake has a sister on the way – and she sounds just as cheeky
Danny Jones
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.”
Sophie Smith -
26th April 2022 
