Back in the day, when I worked at a promotion company in Leeds, we’d go leafleting round the student areas, dropping dozens of Jungle night posters and zines through the letterboxes of seshheads across Hyde Park, Burley, Woodhouse and Headingley.
One day, on Estcourt Terrace, me and a colleague came across this house painted completely white. It had a motorised gate (also white) and a bronze bust of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi beside the door. I’d never seen anything like it.
I asked some others about it, notably graduates of Leeds Met and Uni, who said it was home to an eccentric who had a tendency to play classical music in the wee hours, sometimes accompanied by strobe lighting.
It has captured the imaginations of locals for years.
“I’ve actually been to a party he hosted,” one Redditor said. “He’s a very weird guy but hell the party was awesome. A few mates used to work for him and for my 18th birthday he took about 12 of us to a 10 course Chinese and paid for the lot.
“Nice guy, just super eccentric.”
That nice guy is a self-taught classical and jazz music conductor and pianist. He took his inspiration for the paint job from a small opera house painted white he saw in the USA a few years before snapping up the infamous property.
The owner, who likes to remain anonymous, said: ‘I just like a refreshing, modern look — it’s my idea of modern elegance.”
During the renovation, he arranged a room with a piano and space for his musician friends to come over for music sessions in his house
Other decor at the home, worth approximately £250,000, includes a silver model rocket.
The bronze bust next to the front door was actually unveiled by Leeds University’s head of music faculty with an open air concert.
“This design reflects my love of design engineering,” the owner said.
“I have always done a lot to the interior and have had a cocktail bar I call the ‘Blue Orbit’ built.
“This is all lit with classic neon light and I often have musician friends over for a jazz night. The open plan space is big enough for a small band, with guitar, drums, bass and me on piano. It’s a nice place to entertain and play music.
“But I think I am getting to the point now where it is getting saturated and I feel the work of art is complete. Now it is just about maintaining it.”
He’s not short of fans. One man wrote online: “If the owners like it what does it matter?
“People spend far too much time bothered about what others are doing and not enough looking at themselves.
“Let them enjoy their home how they want it.”
News
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.
Josh Teal -
4th June 2021 
