Over the weekend, the streets of Leeds was lined with onlookers hoping to get a glimpse of Hollywood legends like Samuel L Jackson and Emilia Clarke as they were out filming for their new Marvel series, Secret Invasion.
Over the entire weekend, Bond Court, Greek Street, Alexander Street and Gusto alleyway between Greek Street and Bond Court were closed off to the public for filming.
Popular restaurant, Blackhouse has transformed into the movie set, where the restaurant signage and street signs changed into Russian for filming.
Tattu and Blackhouse were main filming spots for the Marvel series. / Image: George Garforth
Meanwhile, neighbouring restaurant Tattu was used as a crew area and outside onlookers could see a Russian taxi and expensive cars that were being used to film the series.
Throughout the day, both Samuel L Jackson and Emilia Clarke were seen on multiple occasions alongside cast member Ben Mendelsohn.
Hundreds of people queued up to try and catch a glimpse of Hollywood's greatest Marvel cast, but many were turned away due to the set's viewpoint capacity. If you missed out on the cast in Leeds, you'll find them a mere thirty minutes from the city centre, filming in Halifax's Piece Hall.
Over in Halifax, the Piece Hall will be shut from today, Monday 24 January and Monday 31 January for filming. It is rumoured that there will be 260 members of cast and extras, plus an additional 200 crew members taking part throughout the TV show’s weeklong stay in Halifax.
MP for Halifax, Holly Lynch shared on Twitter that the celebrity appearances are going to be a great opportunity for Yorkshire.
A Russian taxi was spotted at filming in Leeds. / Image: The Hoot Leeds
“Not to coolest quote I’ve ever given but this is awesome! I confess to being a massive Marvel geek and so the prospect of filming taking place here in Halifax is incredibly exciting!”
This is what we know about the series Secret Invasion so far:
“Secret Invasion is an upcoming American television miniseries created by Kyle Bradstreet for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics storyline of the same name“.
Filming took place outside Blackhouse. / Image: The Hoot Leeds
Samuel L Jackson will play Nick Fury, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D who is working with Skrulls in deep space; Ben Mendelsohn will play Talos, the leader of the Skrull sect and an ally of Fury, and Kingsley Ben-Adir has been cast as the lead villain.
At the moment, there’s no further information about the roles of the rest of the cast, only that the series will be six episodes long and all the revealed cast will feature in at least one episode.
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.
Sophie Smith -
24th January 2022 
