Spring has sprung at luxury lifestyle destination Victoria Leeds in a suitably stylish manner this month.
There's no better place to shop in Leeds than Victoria Leeds and this spring they have truly pushed the boat out to get us all feeling festive as we transition into the warmer months.
As well as the usual plethora of new season collections from premium fashion brands and cutting edge independents, there's an exciting programme of spring activity on the horizon for us to look forward to.
We all love a window display, and to celebrate spring 2023 Victoria Leeds has created an eye-catching sustainable window display that perfectly captures the season in Yorkshire.
The display features a gorgeous array of flowers being fed by naturally collected rainwater via tumbling rainbow umbrellas, a fitting nod to the rainy Yorkshire weather.
Image: Supplied
Speaking of the new display, Victoria Leeds senior general Manager, Jo Coburn said: ‘’We take environmental considerations very seriously at Victoria Leeds and we’re proud of the work our teams carry out to not only ensure we are working responsibly, but doing so in a way that engages our visitors.
"It’s fantastic that people can follow the progress of our display as we move through the seasons, and our grounds are going to look stunning with all the replanted flowers.’’
Victoria Leeds have also partnered up with Opera North to offer a truly unique and enchanting experience with 'As You Are: Soundwalk 2023'.
As You Are was written for Opera North by South African-born composer and cellist Abel Selaocoe and allows participants to go on an immersive 30-minute audio-visual trip around central Leeds.
Between Thursday 30th March and Saturday 29th April, customers can embark shoppers can collect their headphones from Victoria Leeds before embarking on a route around the city where special sensors will trigger sounds and music created to complement key Leeds landmarks.
Image: Supplied
Ahead of the Soundwalk launch, Jo Coburn said: ‘’Engaging shoppers today must go beyond offering quality products and beautiful window displays, which is why we know our discerning customers are going to fall in love with Soundwalk.
‘’Opera North is a brand that resonates with our target audience and so we were thrilled to bring back the ground-breaking vision by Abel Selaocoe to Victoria Leeds. We urge anyone with even a passing interest in opera, the arts or the city of Leeds to try. It’s incredible.’’
Premium outdoor living brand Moda Furnishings have just launched a pop-up show room in the Victoria Quarter which will be open until the end of summer for all your BBQ furniture and party needs.
Read more about Victoria Leeds' incredible spring programme here.
In honour of National Chocolate Week, two big brands are joining forces.
Fancy a freebie? Silly question, of course you do.
Tony’s Chocolonely and Yorkshire Tea have joined forces for National Chocolate Week to ask Brits to declare themselves a ‘Melt’...yes, really.
It comes after the brands discovering a new Gen Z dunking trend, with research finding that 80% of 18–24-year-olds say chocolate is their preferred tea-dunking treat.
To understand why the perculiar pairing has become so popular, the brands recruited Associate Professor of Psychobiology, Dr Lorenzo Stafford, to investigate what happens when tea and chocolate come together.
Associate Professor, Dr Lorenzo Stafford said: "It's fascinating to see how much thought Brits put into what makes a great dunk. Flavour, texture and temperature all shape how we experience food, and the combination of hot tea with melting chocolate creates a particularly enjoyable sensory experience.
"When it comes to dunking, tea and chocolate have great chemistry so it’s no surprise young people have embraced it."
If you want to try it out for yourself, then you can for free - but there is one catch.
From Monday 19 to Friday 23 October, anyone who walks into one of Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds and says ‘I'm a Melt’ will get a free mug of Yorkshire Tea and bar of Tony's Chocolonely.
Not only that, but the first 100 customers will also get a limited-edition ‘Melt’ cap.
Yorkshire Tea & Tony’s Chocolonely said of the partnership, “Brits love their tea and their chocolate and now the science shows why. This National Chocolate Week, we’re inviting everyone to give it a go, embrace their inner Melt and discover just how well chunky chocolate and a proper brew can work together.”
Leeds Bradford Airport strikes will NOT go ahead following ‘late offer’ over pay
Clementine Hall
This weekend's strikes at Leeds Bradford Airport have been cancelled.
Around 130 workers were set to walk out this weekend, Unite said, but this has been suspended to allow air traffic controllers to consider a new pay offer.
The Unite members planning on to go on strike were a mixture of air traffic control workers, customer experience staff, security staff and cleaners.
The workers involved in the dispute had recently come out of a four-year pay deal, with some of the departments having fallen behind other airports in equivalent roles.
Pay talks have been happening since December 2025, with the airport's formal offer not going far enough to address the lack of pay parity which led to the decision to strike.
However, as of yesterday 15 October, the workers have been given new pay offers from the airport and the strikes will not take place to allow a ballot on the offers.
Air traffic controllers and hourly paid staff are being balloted separately on their respective offers.
Unite regional officer Neil Whitaker said: "After receiving offers from Leeds Bradford Airport, we have suspended this week’s strike action in good faith to allow members to vote on pay deals.”
In a statement, Leeds Bradford Airport said: "While the ballot process continues with certain members of our frontline colleagues, we remain hopeful that a positive outcome can be achieved and that an agreement can be reached which works for everyone involved.
"Regardless of the outcome of this ballot, LBA has a robust contingency plan in place and will be operating as normal this weekend.
"Our focus remains on supporting a smooth and reliable experience for customers while maintaining safe and efficient airport operations."
Clementine Hall -
28th March 2023 
