After a whirlwind year in Leeds, The Savvy Baker has gone from strength to strength and will now be adding a cafe to her incredible portfolio of brownie-related business ventures.
Incase you haven’t met The Savvy Baker before, the lockdown-success bakery hasn’t been around in Leeds long, but has gained a cult following for its delicious baked goods.
Image: The Savvy Baker
Owned by Savannah Roqaa, the Leeds-based baker has been cooking up a storm online, with almost 50,000 Instagram followers and her brownies are loved by thousands of us in Leeds, including no less than Kalvin Phillips and Tyler Denton.
The new cafe will be located on Lidgett Lane in Roundhay and will be a first for The Savvy Baker, who is taking on the project as a joint venture with partner Jordan Simms.
Savannah told The Hoot Leeds: "We're both so excited to be able to open a customer-facing cafe. I can't wait to be able to meet all of the customers that have been supporting [us] since that start.
"This is still just the beginning and can't wait for what's in the future".
The pair are currently renovating the existing premises, but hope to be open for business by the end of March.
Image: The Savvy Baker
The bakery will be serving all your favourites from the existing bakery, including those incredible brownies and slabs, as well as coffee from North Star and cakes too.
The announcement was made on the business' Instagram page and has since had over 8,000 likes, with countless messages of approval.
The caption said: "OMG. THE SAVVY BAKER CAFE IS COMING!!!!!! We got the keys to the first savvy baker cafe, a new venture and we’re doing it together! So many of you have been asking for it for ages so.. here you have it!! It’s going to take us a little while to renovate and change it from a shell to our dream but it’s worth it!!
"I'm so excited to be able to offer Leeds a place to get your hands on our stuff all the time and we’ll be serving the best @northstarroast coffee. It’s in North leeds. Can anyone recognise where abouts? Tag a mate who you’d bring when we’re open too!!!"
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 -
8th February 2022 
