Leeds City Council has just confirmed that it has cancelled its 2021 bonfire and firework events, citing a lack of ability to plan due to COVID restrictions.
Community bonfires managed by the council typically take place at six different locations around Leeds and attract roughly 100,000 visitors every year.
However, this year the council-organised events at East End Park; Roundhay Park; Woodhouse Moor; Springhead Park in Rothwell; Middleton Park and Bramley Park will not go ahead.
The events were also cancelled in 2020 for a similar reason.
In a statement released today, the council explained that they would've had to put in place ticketed arrangements for each event in order to comply with covid restrictions and that this would've added significant costs to the running of the events.
The full city council statement released today said: "To ensure that this could be delivered in an appropriate manner, the council would have had to put in place ticketed arrangements for each individual event.
"To support crowd management, these tickets would have needed to be distributed to each attendee before each event took place, with no capacity to pick up on the night.
"In addition, a substantial amount of supplementary infrastructure would also be necessary to control access and check COVID status and tickets.
"This would mean that gaining entry would take a lot longer for everyone and could mean that those without evidence of their COVID status not being able to gain access.
"There would also be significant additional costs of putting these measures in place, which added to uncertainty about any further COVID changes that may be made prior to the bonfire events, has meant that following an assessment, a decision has been taken to not to host the events in 2021."
As for other bonfire and firework events taking place around the city, these will be monitored by Leeds City Council’s Safer Strong Communities Team.
Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for public health and active lifestyles said:: “We certainly did not take this decision lightly, and we know that this news will come as a real disappointment to many people, and this is something that we too very much share.
"We will be continuing to monitor all the guidance and relevant information that is available to us to inform and guide any final decisions that might be made regarding other individual council events scheduled in the future.
Feature image - Leeds City Council.
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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 -
21st September 2021 
