Explores the many wonders of Leeds, from museums to amazing places to eat Take in the Aire
Fiona Whitty
Leeds is largely undiscovered,” grinned our city tour guide. “It’s really diversified and is absolutely brimming with beauty.” After spending a weekend there, part of me wishes I could keep this gem of a city to myself. But it’s too good to miss.
Guide Claire Bostel’s two-hour walking tour was the perfect way to start our family trip and gave husband Tim and me, plus kids Freddie, 11, 14-yearold Rosie, and Harvey, 18, an insight into how Leeds grew its wool and textiles industry to become the
UK’S third-largest city (leedswalkingtours.co.uk, £10pp).
Those Leeds types were wily souls. Jewish immigrant Michael Marks started the pound shop trend way back in 1884 when he opened a stall in Kirkgate Market selling everything for a penny. It flourished into today’s Marks & Spencer.
The grand Grade Ii-listed St Paul’s House was once the first factory to manufacture mass-produced clothing – and inspired the Leeds-born founders of both Burton and Next. Along the way we stopped off for a cuppa in the stunning Tiled Hall Cafe in Leeds Central Library, a pearl of a place with marble columns, vaulted ceiling and colourful tiles.
Elsewhere, the city’s brimming with bustling new and Victorian shopping malls, independent businesses and novel start-ups. A great one to try is VR Simulators, opened last January pre-pandemic by the first company in Europe to offer a 5D racing car experience (vr-simulators.com/ leeds, from £15pp).
Across its 80-plus tracks and 180 or so cars you’ll be bumped, blown and bewitched by fans, a motion chair, a virtual reality headset and movementsensitive steering wheel and foot pedals to help you feel what a real-life racing driver goes through.
The fact that instructors brief you about how to counter motion sickness reflects how realistic it is. If you crash
you’re tossed around like a billiard ball in a box.
I played it safe and tottered along like a Sunday afternoon driver while the rest of the gang locked into Lewis Hamilton-mode and came off feeling queasy. All of us loved it and couldn’t wait to have another go.
We’d worked up an appetite and the perfect place to head when hungry is Blue Sakura, a Japanese restaurant in the Merrion Centre that’s reinvented the all-you-can-eat buffet (bluesakura.co.uk, from £20.95 adult/£10 child for a one-and-a-half or two-hour sitting).
There’s no queuing to load up your plates, instead diners order freshly prepared food via an ipad for table delivery.
Blue Sakura only opened in 2019 and the menu is extensive, from sushi and grilled meats to curries and stir-fries.
All were utterly fabulous and the whole meal was a great experience. Afterwards we headed to the nearby Tenpin bowling alley – a fun way to round off the evening. We were staying at the smart Novotel, nestled alongside the River Aire and handy for the railway station. Our adjoining executive rooms had queen beds and the sofa in the kids’ one was cleverly converted into two extra singles. The charcoal and ochre hues and Nespresso machine gave rooms a modern feel but the bathrooms stole the show: the huge monsoon showers had transparent walls so you could see in from the main room. To spare any blushes, it frosts over at the touch of a button.
At next morning’s vast breakfast buffet the children
The city is a haven for shoppers with ornate arcades and modern malls
loved the make-yourown pancakes and waffles – while we adults did our best to avoid the tempting Prosecco.
Later we jumped on the yellow water taxi (£1pp) to the Royal Armouries, a fantastic museum that houses the UK’S largest collection of armour, including a set worn by a very slim Henry VIII.
The daily shows are fun – our Freddie was enthralled by a two-handed sword duel (royalarmouries.org, free).
The city is a haven for shoppers, with bright and modern malls like the enormous Trinity Leeds sitting smartly beside ornate historic arcades. The indie sector is alive and kicking too. That evening we ate at Fettle, acclaimed for its locally sourced seasonal food and cosy atmosphere ( fettle.uk).
Owners Kamil and Simon offer a compact but delicately devised evening menu with half-sized portions available for children.
To start we tried bread with miso butter, ackee with truffle-fried sourdough – Jamaican fruit
ackee is a tantalising mix between houmous and soft cheese when pureed – and mouthwateringly tender scallops with miso-seared cauliflower.
I followed it with scrumptious hake, clams and pear in Somerset cider while the rest of the family tried the beautifully crafted pork belly with rosemary fudge, duck breast with pickled raspberries, and squash gnocchi.
The veg accompaniments included delicious baked sprouts, deep-fried and tossed with pomegranate. The food was divine.
Later that evening we let the kids loose at the lively Arcade Club, a 10-minute cab ride away, for some good old-fashioned fun (arcadeclub.co.uk, from £16 adult/£8 child).
It was started in the back room of a shop and it’s threestorey Leeds branch – the company’s second – launched two years ago.
For a set entry fee you can spend as much time there as you fancy on its 250+ consoles, games and machines, from space invaders and dance videos to race track challenges and Minecraft. Next day we enjoyed Sunday lunch at another of Leeds’ success stories, the renowned Ox Club – featured in the Michelin and Good Food Guides (oxclub.co.uk). Opened four years ago in a former textile mill, Ox Club serves meats from small Yorkshire farms and fine North Sea seafood, all grilled over wood and charcoal.
The beef tartare and grilled mackerel starters really hit the spot and the main course roasts – always a hit in my family – simply blew us away.
Our beef rumps came with a mouth-watering ox cheek ragu while the pork belly and loin was served with delicious smoked trotter. The enormous Yorkshire puddings and exquisite pommes anna – a
French speciality of layered potatoes, fried then baked – rounded the dishes off.
Completely delectable.
We finished off our break with another novelty – putting practice at Junkyard Golf. Its three crazy golf courses are made from reclaimed junk, from bathtubs to car spares (junkyardgolfclub.co.uk, from £8.50pp).
It was fun and eclectic – just like Leeds itself.