Leeds

The UK’s leading K-pop retailer is opening its first Yorkshire store in Leeds

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall - 19th May 2026

The Merrion Centre is set to welcome one of the UK’s fastest-growing specialist music retailers.

K-pop fans, you're going to love this one.

Soft launching on Friday 22 May, K-pop Korner Leeds will open initially as a pop-up store, becoming the brand’s fourth UK location and its first in the north of England.

Recognised as the UK’s leading dedicated K-pop retailer, K-pop Korner stocks official K-pop albums, signed albums, light sticks and rare collectibles imported directly from Korea.

Not only that, but the brand has developed a strong national following through fan events, trading days, concerts and exclusive product launches.

The Leeds opening follows the success of K-pop Korner’s existing stores in London Waterloo, London Euston and Nottingham, with growing demand from fans across Yorkshire and the north driving the expansion.

Anastasia Tsappis, Director of K-pop Korner, said: “We’re incredibly excited to bring K-pop Korner to Leeds and finally create a dedicated space for fans in Yorkshire and the North of England. Community has always been at the heart of what we do and we’re looking forward to building a welcoming environment where fans can meet, discover new merchandise, celebrate their favourite artists and enjoy special events together.

“Our community has been asking for a more accessible location outside London and the Midlands for a long time, so Leeds felt like the natural next step. The Merrion Centre stood out because of its vibrant atmosphere, fantastic city-centre location and strong connection to entertainment and youth culture.

“We want the opening to feel like more than just a store launch. It’s about celebrating K-pop fandom and creating memorable experiences for the local community. We’re especially excited to see fans come together for our opening events and experience the energy and excitement that makes K-pop culture so special.”

Read more: Inside Pardon Me – Leeds’ newest neighbourhood record bar inspired by Japan

Featured image - K-pop Korner

Leeds

Inside Pardon Me – Leeds’ newest neighbourhood record bar inspired by Japan

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall

Farsley is now home to an ultra-cool record bar with coffee, cocktails and an unbeatable sound system.

Tucked away in the beautiful Sunny Bank Mills, Pardon Me is a record bar built around 'music, atmosphere, and detail'.

It's been launched by Scott Rapson, who grew up in the Scottish Highlands and fell in love with music around the time of the arrival of hip hop in the early 80s.

He then spent time travelling for raves, and visiting venues like Glasgow’s Sub Club and London’s Plastic People, giving Scott an appreciation for how 'music can shape a room, not just fill it'.

Images: The Hoot Leeds

Scott and his partner Laurie have then spent the past three years travelling, visiting listening bars across Europe to shape the foundations of Pardon Me.

Listening bars, also known as hi-fi bars, originated in 1920s Japan - and you can really see the Japanese influence within the space and it's super cool interiors.

Images: The Hoot Leeeds

Bartenders here create a small but perfectly formed menu of cocktails and pour natural wines from Wayward Wines in front of a wall of vinyl, while a collection of Scott's records play as a soundtrack to your evening.

The sound system Scott claims is one of the "best in the North East", which he says has a "real sense of depth and balance to it" with a "coverage that stays incredibly consistent across the room".

Images: The Hoot Leeds

Whether it's for coffee during the day, or drinks into the evening, they want Pardon Me to be a place to spend time, looking out across Sunny Bank Mills.

Pardon Me is open Thursday - Sunday, and you can find out more about this wonderful new opening here.

Read more: Leeds speakeasy crowned one of the best cocktail bars in the world by industry experts

Featured image - The Hoot Leeds

Leeds

Leeds named one of the UK’s worst cities for parcel theft, according to new research

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

The UK's worst cities for parcel theft have been revealed, with Leeds landing in the top five.

More packages were sent in the UK than ever before in 2025, according to recent data, with approximately 4.2 billion parcels being posted, but this has meant that doorstep deliveries have become part of daily life for many households.

As online shopping continues to grow, so too does the concern around so-called ‘porch piracy’, where parcels are stolen from doorsteps, porches, and communal delivery areas.

So, in a bid to reveal the UK cities that are most vulnerable to parcel theft, home and contents specialists at iSelect analysed cities across three key factors – local theft rates, working-from-home levels, and parcel theft-related search behaviour, and each city was then given an overall parcel theft risk score out of 100.

Image: Evri

The study found that Leeds, unfortunately, is the fourth city most at risk with an index score of 53.1 and 9.21 thefts per 1,000 people.

The study found that Manchester is, unfortunately, the UK city most at risk of parcel theft – with an index score of 91.43 out of 100.

Manchester recorded the highest theft rate in the study, with 13.52 thefts per 1,000 people, as well as one of the highest levels of parcel theft-related searches, at 161.6 searches per 100,000 people.

Experts at iSelect say this suggests that residents are not only more exposed to theft overall, but that concern around missing or stolen parcels is ‘particularly high’ in the city too.

Other northern cities featuring in the top five include Newcastle in second place, with a parcel theft risk score of 75.89 and Kingston upon Hull ranked fifth, scoring 48.48 out of 100. 

Then into the top 10 is where you’ll find cities like Bradford, Birmingham, Nottingham, and of course, the English capital London.

At the other end of the ranking, Derby was named the safest UK city for parcel deliveries, with a score of 17.68 out of 100, and according to the research, the city benefited from a relatively high working-from-home rate of 28.9%, which reduces the likelihood of parcels being left unattended for long periods.

Read more: A huge new venue designed for 1,000 fans to watch the World Cup is coming to Leeds city centre

Featured Image – Oxana Melis (via Unsplash)

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