Leeds

Call Lane bars ready to celebrate new outdoor space in Leeds city centre

Popular Leeds city centre food and drink destination Call Lane to welcome back outside revellers for seated al fresco drinking and dining.

The Hoot The Hoot - 8th April 2021

Popular Leeds city centre food and drink destination Call Lane is set to welcome back hundreds more outside revellers for seated al fresco drinking and dining following recent renovations and changes to the street made by Leeds City Council. 

The long-awaited changes to the thriving bar and restaurant hub have seen the expansion and laying of new pavement and dramatically reduced traffic following a successful trial in Summer 2020. The ongoing improvements on Call Lane leave it well-placed to be the next great destination in a growing list of bustling outdoor city centre spaces.

Already making the most of their new surroundings is local bar and restaurant group Akito Ltd who will be opening three of their four sites for outdoor drinking and dining from Monday 12th April in line with the government’s reopening roadmap.

https://twitter.com/Oportobar/status/1379113276303368196

With new furniture, outdoor heaters and rain cover, the bars (including Leeds nightlife mainstays Oporto, Knaves Kitchen, Neon Cactus and Power, Corruption and Lies) will be ready to welcome their dearly-missed customers in all weathers and circumstances from 12PM - 12AM, seven days a week. Bookings won’t be required for the three Akito venues, leaving space for walk-ins of groups of up to six.

All sites will be fully seated, offering table service exclusively and logging track and trace details for all guests in line with current covid regulations. From Mexican street food and cocktails, ‘Disco Dim Sum’ to vegan fast food, craft beer and coffee, the widespread and diverse offering from the various Call Lane venues will ensure that all tastes are catered for. 

Following their reopening on the 12th, the bars plan to make use of the new and long awaited outdoor space to host BBQ’s, events, bank holiday specials and lots more over the Summer months. The independent Akito group along with their neighbours on the lane are excited to bring another great outdoor social space to Leeds city centre and welcome back the crowds who make Leeds such a beloved place to eat, drink and dance. 

Ross Millar, Operations Manager, Akito Ltd said: “Down on call lane we are chomping at the bit to welcome people back for al fresco drinking and dining in our new and extended outside area. With extra seating available and no booking necessary the summer is going to look beautiful! We have worked really hard over the past months to ensure complete safety for our guests is achieved with all the necessary covid procedures in place.

"Having done weeks of extensive research and development on new food and drink offerings in our venues we are super excited for people to come down and sample our creations. It’s been such a tough year all round for everybody, I personally feel a real sense of excitement and emotion for the coming months when we are able to get back to what we know and see some lovely faces.”

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “Leeds City Council has worked with hospitality businesses across the city as they prepare to welcome back customers from 12th April. Large parts of the city centre have been transformed over the past year, with some of our key streets and spaces now offering wider footways, more room for outdoor seating, and newly planted trees”

Oporto, Knaves Kitchen, Neon Cactus & Power Corruption and Lies will be open from 12PM - 12AM, seven days a week. Food will be served until 10PM.

Leeds

M&S launches massive recruitment drive in Leeds with hundreds of jobs available

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

M&S has launched a massive recruitment drive across Yorkshire.

With the festive season fast approaching, and most British stores having already unveiled their Christmas ranges for 2026, one of the country’s largest brands has launched a massive UK-wide seasonal recruitment drives to gear up for what is always one of the busiest times of the year for the retail industry.

M&S has announced it will recruit for plenty of new colleagues across the UK.

As mentioned Christmas is one of the busiest moments of the year for M&S, and seasonal colleagues play a ‘vital’ part in delivering that.

Image: Supplied

New recruits will be tasked with helping M&S deliver a ‘brilliant’ service for customers.

Stores with vacancies span the whole of Leeds - including city centre, Moortown, Crown Point, White Rose Shopping Centre and Pudsey.

M&S says the roles are ‘fast-moving and hands-on’, with colleagues required to work together to make sure customers still get the very best of M&S, even at its busiest.

The roles will pay £13.41 per hour, with successful applicants receiving the training, tools and support needed to get up to speed quickly.

“We can’t wait to welcome over 300 new colleagues to our store teams here in Greater Manchester,” commented Zeba Khan, who is the Regional Manager at M&S.

“As we get ready for our busiest time of year, it’s a great opportunity to join us and help bring a magical M&S Christmas to our customers.

“We have a range of opportunities available, whether joining our city centre flagship or our fresh market-style foodhalls. We’re looking for colleagues who are passionate about delivering great customer service and being part of a team.”

Fancy it then? Applications are now open, and you can find out more and apply on the M&S Christmas careers page here.

Read more:

Featured Image – Supplied

Leeds

A brand-new frozen yoghurt bar is coming to Leeds

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall

Everyone's in love with frozen yoghurt, and Leeds is about to get more of it.

Over the past year, the UK has become a little bit obsessed with frozen yoghurt - and Leeds is no exception.

We've had Kefiyo open in Headingley which met to queues round the block for weeks, as well as the UK's leading froyo brand Frurt open up in Kirkstall.

And now, there's a newbie on the block.

Images: Supplied

Introducing 'Yo-Go', your newest frozen yoghurt bar that will be opening up in Leeds' Hyde Park.

We don't know much about Yo-Go yet, but we do know it's female owned and is sporting some pretty cute branding.

The space is currently undergoing renovation, with the owner posting that she received the keys just a couple of days ago.

The window vinyls are up, and people are already getting very excited about the opening as they flock to the comments of Yo-Go's first Instagram post.

Announcing the news of their opening, Yo-Go wrote: "GUYS!! WE’VE GOT THE KEYS. And apparently they don’t come with a finished shop… rude.

"While we get to work, we need your input. Toppings, flavours, very specific requests, we’re taking notes. Drop them below and I’ll try my best to make it happen x"

Comments included requests for 'unlimited toppings' as well as warm sauces, cookie dough, marshmallow and honeycomb.

Sounds pretty delicious if you ask us, but for now, it looks like there's still some work to be done before the shop is ready to welcome its first customers.

We don't know of an opening date just yet, but we'll keep you updated as and when we do.

Read more:

Featured image - Supplied

More Leeds

Art & Culture

Inside the historic Leeds mill transformed into a thriving hub for creatives

Audio

Clubland to celebrate 25 years with huge Leeds arena show

Bradford

Bradford set for major new train station as plans promise faster journeys to Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield