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ROUGH GUIDE to

Leeds Hidden Gems

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Leeds
Yorkshires commercial capital, and one of the fastest-growing cities in
the country, Leeds has undergone a radical transformation in recent
years. Theres still a true northern grit to its character but the city is
revelling in its new persona as a booming financial, commercial and
cultural centre. The renowned shops, restaurants, bars and clubs
provide one focus of a visit to contemporary Leeds; couple all that with
an abundance of heritage, architecture, museums and galleries and its
easy to see why this is one of northern Englands most inviting cities.

interesting. Theres an impressive

collection of reconditioned vintage
telephones, gramophones and
1940s radios, plus a couple of
leathery hand-held travel trunks
and a mannequins head, posing in
a deerstalker hat. Shopping on a
budget? Ask to have a rummage
in the dressing-up box, where
youll find scarves, hair accessories
and the odd hat or bag for as
little as 3 a pop.

The Wardrobe

UpStaged
1 White Cloth Hall, Crown Street LS2
7DA Gmap T 0113 243 5855
W www.upstagedleeds.co.uk H
MonSat 10.30am6.30pm,
Sun 11.30am4.30pm

You wont come across replicas

or vintage-style garments at this
kaleidoscopic, independently run
clothing shop tucked behind the
Corn Exchange. All of the clothes
and there are items for ladies,
gents and children are one-off
pieces, so if you decide to buy
something here theres very little

4 A

chance of bumping into someone

wearing the same thing later that
day. The only exception would be
the new Dr Mar tens boots at one
end of the shop.
Surprisingly, given the quality
of some of the stuff, almost
everything is under 100,
including 1950s cocktail dresses
and tailored mens overcoats. The
owner has also put a lot of effor t
into selecting other bric-a-brac
and ephemera to keep the shop

Rough Guide

St Peter's Square LS9 8AH Gmap T 0113 383 8800

W www.thewardrobe.co.uk H MonTues 11am11pm, Wed 11ammidnight,
Thurs 11am1am Fri 11am2am, Sat noon2am, Sun 5pm11pm

Change has come quickly to

Quarry Hill. In 1999, when bar/
restaurant/venue The Wardrobe
opened its doors, there wasnt
much of a cultural scene at all.
Nowadays, the Northern Ballet,
BBC Yorkshire and Leeds Gallery
are all based in the area. So much
has changed that people have
started calling this the citys
creative quarter. The fact that
The Wardrobe is still going

strong despite the influx of other

diversions is testament to its
unique concept.
You can drop into the bar for
a drink (cocktails start at 6.40)
or have a lazy dinner at the
restaurant, Soul Kitchen, where
the menu focuses on slow-cooked
Cajun and Caribbean flavours.
Then you can finish up the night
watching a show in the downstairs

club. Sometimes its musicians on

the stage, other times its cabaret
acts and international dance
troupes. If its your first visit, take
a moment to look around the
building; it was once a wallpaper
factory, before actors from the
West Yorkshire Playhouse started
using it as a storage space for
their costumes hence the
connection with wardrobes.

Reds True BBQ

Gmap T 0113 834 5834
W www.truebarbecue.com H MonThurs noon11pm, FriSat noon
midnight, Sun noon10pm
Cloth Hall Street LS1 2HD

Let there be meat,

proclaims Reds, vowing
to save the people
of Leeds from what
it describes as bad
barbecue food. Eating
at this Americaninspired restaurant on
Cloth Hall Street is
not quite a religious
experience, but the
food is pretty darn
tasty all the same. Its
everything youd hope
for from a barbeque:

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Rough Guide

big hunks of meat, smothered in

barbecue sauce and served up with
deliciously sloppy sides. And to look
at the sheer size of the portions,
youd be forgiven for thinking that
youd swapped West Yorkshire for
the American Southwest.
The menu is also pretty
authentic, with a satisfyingly redblooded selection of burgers, ribs,
sandwiches and steaks (mains from
8.95). The meats are rubbed in

herbs and left for at least 24 hours

before theyre smoked and served,
giving them a teeth-squeakingly
juicy texture. Its worth trying at
least a couple of the sauces too;
theyre inspired by flavours from
Kentucky and Carolina, but made
in the open kitchen in-house.
Go easy on the triple 6 hot sauce,
though made with the worlds
hottest Naga Bhut Jolokia chillies,
it really packs a punch!

Hyde Park Picture House

73 Brudenell Road, Headingley LS6 1JD Gmap (bus #56 runs from The
Headrow in Leeds city centre, stopping across the road) T 0113 275 2045
W www.hydeparkpicturehouse.co.uk H Evenings and weekends; doors open
15 mins before each film starts; see website for exact times P adults 6.40
6.90, concessions 56, under 14s 4.60

Theres just one screen at this

99-year-old art-house cinema,
hidden away in a residential part
of Headingley thats popular with
students. The picturesque picture
house was built in 1914, as the
First World War engulfed Europe,
and is said to be one of the longest
continually operating cinemas in
the country. It still has a lot of charm,
with a tiny red-and-white box office
out front, plus gas lamps and

stained glass fittings throughout the

carpeted lobby.
Films shown in the 280-seat
theatre range from monochrome
comedies starring Audrey Hepburn

to gritty, Finnish-made documentaries

about rock music although
Hollywood blockbusters are
screened if they are critically
acclaimed. There are also late night
Creatures of the Night screenings
every Saturday, with a focus on
gory slasher flicks, cult classics and

bizarre documentaries. Unusually,

the theatre at the Hyde Park Picture
House has two different levels of
seating. Choose one of the more
expensive tickets and youll be able
to take your popcorn up to the
cosier balcony level, which is reached
by an elegant double staircase.

Saturday nights are given over to DJs

playing funk and soul. Whichever night
youre there, make sure you try one
of the pizzas (6.50), served until
midnight. Another option is to grab a
drink and ask to borrow one of the
board games stashed behind the bar.

Thackray Medical Museum

Sela Bar
Gmap T 0113 242 9442
W www.selabar.com H MonTues 4pm1am, WedThu 4pm2am, Fri 4pm
3am, Sat 3pm3am, Sun 4pmmidnight
20 New Briggate LS1 6NU

Blink and youll miss it. Sela Bar has

such a skinny entrance that its easy
to walk straight past. If you do spot
the door, and follow the stairs down
into a ruby-coloured lounge with

8 A

alternative to some of the citys

rowdier late-night bars.
To some degree, your experience
at Sela Bar will depend on the day
of the week. On Wednesdays, for
example, a local reggae band takes
over the stage, while Friday and

Rough Guide

a small velvet-draped stage at one

end and a bar strung with fairy lights
at the other, youll wonder why the
owners havent made more of a
song and dance about it. Here, amid
the bustle of one
of the citys busiest
shopping districts,
is a relaxed,
subterranean
hangout where
you can watch a
rock band or jazz
trio while drinking
a well-mixed
cocktail. Its a small
space, providing
a more relaxed

Gmap (buses #16, #42,

#49, #50 and #50A all run from the city centre and stop directly outside the
musum) T 0113 244 4343 W www.thackraymedicalmuseum.co.uk
H daily 10am5pm P adults 7, 516s 5, under fives free

Next to St Jamess Hospital, Beckett Street LS9 7LN

Its the hands-on exhibitions and

pongy recreations of Victorian
streets that get younger visitors
excited about visiting this charityrun museum, which tells the story of
medicine. The museums
net is cast wide,
covering everything
from the quack
remedies prescribed
centuries ago to the
cutting-edge technology
thats used in modern
operating theatres. Its a
lot of fun and theres a
good chance youll learn
something along the
way too. Well-annotated

exhibits show how plastic redefined

the way that doctors care for their
patients, and how microorganisms
spread diseases from one person
to another.

leeds

Temporary exhibitions held in a

room near the reception desk tackle
difficult issues like disability and
biological weapons, and theres a
vast research library and research
centre that houses more than
40,000 books on medicine through

the ages (booking is essential if you

want to access the collection). Dads
visiting the museum might also
like to try on the curious-looking
empathy belly. This bulging, frontheavy vest aims to show visitors
how it feels to be heavily pregnant.

Gmap H hours vary from shop to shop

Three storeys high and with a

curved glass roof, Thorntons Arcade
is one of the prettiest shopping

10 A

Rough Guide

life-sized characters from Ivanhoe

by Sir Walter Scott, including Robin
Hood and Gurth the Swineherd.
Stick around until the clock strikes
the hour, and youll see Friar Tuck
punching half-heartedly at the main
bell in the middle.

Thwaite Mills

Thorntons Arcade
Thorntons Arcade LS1 6LQ

started his penny bazaar on Kirkgate

Market, a five-minute walk away).
Although the whole place was
refurbished in the 1990s, lots of the
arcades original quirks remain. At
the northern end theres an unusual
mechanical clock made with four

precincts in Leeds. Its also the

oldest, having been completed in
1878. Local wine merchant Charles
Thornton bought the site
several years beforehand, and
applied to demolish the Talbot
Inn, renowned for its raucous
cockfights, which stood in the
way of his vision for a new
kind of shopping experience
in the city.
Today, the narrow arcade
is home to a mixture of
independent shops, including
urban clothing outlet Chimp
and jewellery shop Argent,
which sells charms and
wristwatches. High street
staples like Marks & Spencer
are also close by (in 1884
co-founder Michael Marks

Thwaite Lane, Stourton LS10 1RP Gmap (bus #110 runs between the
central bus station and Stourton, a 10-minute walk from the mill) T 0113 276
2887 W www.leeds.gov.uk H SatSun 1pm5pm, closed Mon. Also open Tues
Fri 10am5pm during local school holidays P adults 3.30, children 1.20

Although its only two and a

half miles from Leeds train
station, Thwaite Mills feels
refreshingly rural. On an island
thats lapped by the gently
flowing waters of the River
Aire, this attractive, brickbuilt complex is home to
one of Britains last remaining
water-powered mills. Pushed
into life by two 18-foot-wide
waterwheels, the machinery
still works, although its only
coaxed into action for the
benefit of visiting tourists.
There was a mill here as early as
the mid-1600s, when water power
was used to pound locally produced
cotton, but the gearwheels and pulleys

you see today date from the 1870s,

when they were used to grind stones
for paint and putty.You can get an
idea of how it was to live at the mill
in the latter years of its working
life by wandering through a neatly
Leeds

11

restored Georgian home at the front

of the complex. Kids will probably be
just as interested in the narrowboats
that chug past on the adjacent canal,
and the birds and butterflies that
flutter through the surrounding

gardens; kingfishers are a common

sight. If you fancy a really green day
out, its possible to combine a visit
with a walk along part of the Trans
Pennine Trail (www.transpenninetrail.
org.uk), which runs close to the mill.

42 The Calls
42 The Calls LS2 7EW

Gmap T 0113 244 0099 W www.42thecalls.co.uk

P doubles from 150

If you want to stay in the middle

of Leeds and would rather avoid
bland chain hotels, 42 The Calls is a
fairly safe bet. On a cobbled street
near Leeds Minster, this eighteenthcentury building by the River Aire
once operated as a corn mill.Then, in
1991, developers transformed it into a

12 A

Rough Guide

waterfront hotel.Thankfully, a lot of the

original features were retained; look
upwards in some of the rooms and
youll see rustic pulleys and machine
parts hanging from the ceiling. The
corridors display grainy photographs
showing how the building looked
before renovations began, giving

a sense of how much work was

involved in the transformation.
The 41 rooms all have their own
personalities, so ask whether you can
see a couple of different ones when
you check in. Comfort levels are
consistently high though, with huge
beds, spongy-soft scatter cushions
and cute extras left on the duvet by
the cleaners: little boxes of Smarties,
for example. Special privacy hatches
with locks on both sides allow staff
to bring newspapers and breakfast
without disturbing guests. Eating in
the restaurant downstairs is by no
means a chore though; the buffet is
well stocked, and the tables look right
out across the river.

Credits
Author: Steve Vickers
Editing and Picture research: Ian Blenkinsop
Design & layout: Anthony Limerick and Ann
Cannings
Project manager: Ian Blenkinsop
Account manager (First TransPennine):
Caroline Anchor
Account manager (Rough Guides): Michael
Stanfield
For this edition:
Factcheckers: Keith Munro, Steve Vickers
Senior editor: Ros Walford
Senior prepress designer: Daniel May
Senior digital producer Sean Daly
First published 2013
This second edition published May 2014 by
Rough Guides Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
Rough Guides Ltd, 2013
ISBN 978-0-2411-8326-7
The publishers and authors have done their

first transPennine
Tip
Youll be set for the day
after a hearty breakfast
at 42 The Calls, which
includes: 12 varieties
of sausages, kippers,
homemade jams,
marmalades, waffles
and pastries, hmmm.

best to ensure the accuracy and currency

of all the information contained in Rough
Guides Hidden Gems: Leeds, however, they can
accept no responsibility for any loss, injury
or inconvenience sustained as a result of
information or advice contained in the guide.

Picture credits
All illustrations are First TransPennine Express.
All photography is Rough Guides except for
the following:
UpStaged UpStaged; Reds True BBQ Reds/
James Douglas; Hyde Park Picture House Tony
OConnell; Thackray Museum Thackray Medical
Museum; Thorntons Arcade Peter Richardson/
Robert Harding World Imagery/Corbis; Thwaite
Mills Sarah Zagni for Leeds Museums and
Galleries/Creative Commons BY NC SA; 42 The
Calls 42 The Calls.
Leeds

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