It's National Curry Week- so what are you ordering to celebrate?
Here in Leeds, we have plenty of delectable curry options to choose from, whether you're opting to run up to Trinity Kitchen for Rola Wala's street food or sitting down at Tharavadu for a taste of one of Leeds' most loved (and celebrity frequented) restaurants.
Meal-box delivery company, HelloFresh, surveyed Brits to find out which city prefers the hottest curry- and Leeds has shown its true love of spice.
Ranking a respectable seventh place, Leeds was third highest in the north for spicy curries, narrowly losing out to Liverpool and Sheffield.
The top thirteen cities to handle spice was ranked as followed:
Norwich
Birmingham
Sheffield
Edinburgh
Belfast
Liverpool
Leeds
Southampton
Nottingham
Manchester
Cardiff
Bristol
Newcastle
Taking the crown for spicy curry conesseuirs, Norwich were given the top spot for their love of Phall, a curry that is considered the hottest available in the world and hits up to 350,000 Scoville units.
By comparison, the Vindaloo sits at around 100,000 Scoville units, which 1-in-20 in Birmingham voted as their favourite curry, landing them a silver medal in the survey.
Down the other end of the scale, the most popular curry in Newcastle was a korma, leaving the survey with no choice but to assume Geordies that don’t seem to be able to handle the heat. This was followed closely by Bristol who preferred mild curry Pasanda over any other city.
To find out our top picks of places to grab a curry in Leeds check out our Instagram page here.
First Bus is partnering with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to support vulnerable women during pregnancy.
The bus operator is providing an incredible 1,000 day tickets to help vulnerable mums-to-be make appointments.
The free travel passes can be provided by maternity teams to women mainly from minority or disadvantaged communities, helping them to attent important check-ups and appointments.
A recent review of records estimates that 100 pregnant women every month struggle to make hospital appointments as they have no access to funding support or face other barriers to transport.
Image: Supplied
First Bus will provide 100 day tickets per month until March 2027 for midwives to distribute to women based on travel needs following a financial assessment which is carried out during their initial appointment with the maternity team.
Nada Abdul-Majid, Specialist Midwife Health Equity at the Trust, said: “I’ve seen first-hand how women struggle to get to their hospital appointments if they don’t have enough money to use public transport.
“Our Haamla team carry out home visits to these vulnerable women however, it is important that families are able to travel to the hospital for scans, doctors’ appointments, labour and obstetric emergencies.”
Zoe Hands, Managing Director of First Bus Franchising which includes the West Yorkshire region, said: “Supporting communities in the areas we serve means, where we can, being able to assist people in all stages of life. Nothing can be more important than helping to ensure the health and welfare of mothers-to-be and the benefits this will bring to their newborn children.
“We’re pleased to be working in partnership with the Trust and seeing the positive impact our travel support can make to the lives of vulnerable women in Leeds.
“We’re really grateful to First Bus for providing these tickets for women so they can receive maternity care without worrying about the cost of travel to and from appointments,” added Nada. “This will make a real difference to mothers and babies.”
Channel 4 is looking for adult virgins with ‘intimacy issues’ for next series of hit reality show
Emily Sergeant
Channel 4 is back looking for more adult virgins to take part in the potential next series of its hit reality show Virgin Island.
If you’re unfamiliar with Virgin Island, it’s unlike anything ever seen on TV before.
First hitting screens back in 2024 and having run for two successful seasons now, Virgin Island follows the journey of a group of adult virgins who are whisked off to a Mediterranean island retreat to learn life-changing skills in the art of intimacy.
Working with leading international therapists, the aim is to help the young people overcome their fears and insecurities when it comes to intimacy and sex.
Channel 4 said it chose to commission the show after a recent study into intimacy found out that one in eight British 26-year-olds is, apparently, still a virgin.
A casting call for the new series on the Channel 4 website reads: “Are you a virgin and do you need help and guidance with your fears and insecurities around intimacy and sex? Double Act Productions is casting adults for a potential second series of Virgin Island.”
You just need to be over 21 years of age to take part in the show.
Fancy it then? Or know someone who may be up for the ride? Applications for the potential next series of Virgin Island are now open, and there’s still plenty of time left to put your name down.
You can find out more and register your interest here.
Sophie Smith -
3rd October 2022 
