The truth is when it comes to bottomless brunches, Leeds is truly spoilt for choice. It can actually be rather overwhelming at times, making the decision of which bottomless brunch to go with and so we decided to think about what matters to us when we go out for limitless drinks.
Given that for many of us the end goal is to beat the bar and drink more than our money's worth: value plays a huge part of the decision-making.
When you factor in your food and a few cocktails or pints, we reckon £25 would usually cover the costs, so we've used this as our benchmark for a good value bottomless brunch.
Here's all the bottomlesses in Leeds for £25 or under so you can beat the bar too.
Canary Bar
Image: The Hoot Leeds
The bottomless brunch offering allows guests to select any main meal from the menu, so take your pick at this Mediterranean-style menu and combine your favourite flavours with pints and Prosecco. Think Greek salads, wraps, burgers and mezze, all available with sides of halloumi fries and Greek olives- and all equally as fresh as Canary Bar's signature Greek Mezze boards.
Served exclusively on Easter Sunday, bottomless brunch is on offer at the Canary Bar at Leeds Dock until 3pm, booking in advance is recommended as this is likely to fill up the shipping container bar quickly- and it's not difficult to see how.
Bottomless beer, free-flowing prosecco AND unlimited pizza? It sounds like a match made in heaven. Food-wise, pizza topping choices range from the standard to the pretty funky – with some interesting topping selections that range from pork scratching and baked beans to nachos and marmite. Feeling adventurous? Opt for their ‘bah tat’ pizza, comprised of ham, caramelised onion and pork scratchings; or try the ‘love or hate’ marmite base pizza topped with cheese and sundried tomatoes.
Running for 90 minutes, the bottomless offer at Cuckoo is priced at £20 but it can be upgraded to include cocktails like the Quackiri, raspberry Lynchburg and fruit punch for another £5. What an absolute bargain of a deal.
Think 90 minutes of uninterrupted drinks, ranging from unlimited flights of craft beer to bottomless cocktails like Aperol spritz and bloody marys plus a plate of your choice – then tell us you’re not keen for this one. On the food menu, the vegan pancakes or the famous 'Piggyback burger' - beef, sausage and black pudding burger, topped with a slider, let’s be clear you will not leave this brunch hungry!
Featuring craft beers, bottomless cocktails, and some tempting brunch plates all for just £25 a head you seriously need to put this place on your list.
An obvious choice for vegans, Meat is Dead is a plant-based restaurant is the most inclusive vegan bottomless around. Choose from fluffy pancakes or brunch bowls whilst sipping on the likes of Sangria, Margarita pitchers and Prosecco- all for just £25 for a ninety minute sitting.
The Meat is Dead bottomless is only available on a Saturday at either 11am or 1pm with prior booking, so make sure to get your seat booked well in advance to avoid disappointment.
From kickoff to finish and even in stoppage time of Saturday Leeds United games, you can get those extra pints in without worrying about timing your rounds effectively, or how much you’ll rack up on the bill. The pizzas on offer are more than enough to line your stomach for a boozy session. Inspired by their motherland, choose from Italian classics like Roma with salami, mushrooms and chilli oil, the Little Italy pizza with cherry tomatoes, parma ham and Parmesan shavings, a classic Diavola with fresh chili, garlic and pepperoni and many more.
The Leeds United match bottomless brunch is just £25 per person and gives you access to a full sized pizza per person and unlimited lager and cider for the duration of the game.
Whether you’re looking for aesthetics, value for money, delicious food or a stand-out cocktail, Fleur Cafe offer them all: making the cafe a fail-safe option for any bottomless bruncher. Now the most instagrammable cafe in Leeds have taken endless booze to a whole new level and are offering 2-for-1 on their bottomless brunch each Wednesday evening. Opt for unlimited prosecco or mocktails and grab a delicious meal from their pan and grill or sandwich menu for ninety minutes of wining and dining in the most instagrammable cafe in the city.
There are two different sittings everyday: one 10.30am-2.30pm and the other 3-8pm, which is extended to 9pm on a Saturday night. The 2-for-1 offer takes the price to under £20 per person.
Best known as number nine on the Otley Run, expect a full array of alcoholic options like Prosecco, Gordon’s pink gin fizz, draught pints of Amstel and Peroni and soft drinks as well as sweet-tasting cocktails like Passionfruit Bellinis, Aperol Spritz, Virgin Mojitos and Espresso Martinis. The food options are just as exciting with a choice of either a: brekkie, burger or pizza on offer.
All this comes to just £25 per person and we can’t think of a better way to kick off the weekend without the hangover of the Otley Run. Just make sure you don’t sleep in, this one’s only available until 1pm on the weekends.
Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday guests can expect a full 90 minutes of drinking as many glasses of Prosecco and strawberries and Mythos beer as possible. Food-wise, think brekkie options, with all the eggs included: there’s poaches eggs with bacon and hollandaise sauce, Eggs Royale or smashed avo with eggs to choose from.
All this comes to £25 per person but for more information, including how to book a bottomless brunch at Basco’s, you’ll have to head over to their Instagram page or visit the cafe-bistro at Albion Place in Leeds city centre between 10am and 6pm everyday.
On the menu, there are all of your lunchtime favourites, including Avo Smash, Creamy Mushroom and their Nutella and Strawberry Pancakes. The carefully baked sweet pancakes are carefully flipped and then drizzled with Nutella and icing sugar: a winning combination for a weekend brunch if you ask us.Choose from Mojitos, Aperol Spritz, Bloody Mary cocktails, as well as CREAM’s famed Espresso Martinis. If you have time, you might even get round to sampling all of the drinks: just make sure you place your order before the ninety minutes has run out.
The bottomless brunch menu is available at multiple sittings over the weekend: grab a seat between 10am and 2pm on Friday – Saturday or 10am – 12pm on a Sunday and get your best brunch team down to this Halifax-based bar for £24 a head.
Leeds Christmas Markets is returning to the city centre in just a weeks time, and we've got everything you need to know.
This year, the markets are looking a little bit different than before as outdoor events company Thor’s Tipi have stepped up as the all-new operators of this Christmastime spectacular.
They're organising a market where 'even if you’re not from Yorkshire, you’re going to leave being from Yorkshire'.
Although Leeds locals already know that Yorkshire is 'God's Own Country', the Leeds Christmas Markets team are making sure that the county is represented through its food, drinks and wider stalls.
So, let's get into it...
Opening dates and timings
The Leeds Christmas Markets will kick off from Thursday 19 November and run until Wednesday 23 December. So that's almost five weeks of festivities flooding the city, and plenty of time for you to make the most of it.
The markets will be open 7 days a week, the exact timings are:
Trader Village & Leeds Street Food
Sunday-Wednesday: 10:30am-7pm
Thursday-Saturday: 10:30am-8pm
THOR’S Highland Lodge & Folié Ski Bar
Sunday-Tuesday: 11am-9pm
Wednesday-Saturday: 11am-11pm
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Locations
The main stalls and street food will be located at City Square, here you will also find the main Christmas tree and two THOR's bars.
Ice Cube at Millennium Square will also be making a return, here you'll find rides, an ice rink and more food and drink. This is separate to what is being run by THOR's this year, though.
There will be plenty of other festive activities taking place throughout the city throughout November and December, you can find out more and view the Leeds Christmas map here.
Food
Okay, now we can get onto the good stuff.
We all know that the highlight of the markets is the food, and this year there's going to be more independent and local trader than ever before.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
From Leeds' very own Italian street food restaurant Stuzzi to homemade mini tiramisu drawers, you're going to want to arrive feeling very peckish at these markets that's for sure.
The current full list of street food vendors at City Square is as follows:
Cut & Craft (steak and chips)
Beth Bakes Cakes (hot chocolate fudge cake)
Misu Tiramisu (mini tiramisu drawers)
Crumble pots (crumble)
La Grassa (Italian-American sandwiches)
Chocolate Circus (stacked hot chocolates)
Stuzzi (Italian street food)
Street Kings Bratwurst (traditional bratwurst)
Johnsons' Toffee (homemade toffee and fudge)
The Savvy Baker (sweet treats and hot cookie dough)
Irish spice bags
Churros
Drink
Closely following behind food, a good old tipple is what many of us venture to the markets for.
This year, alongside a few mulled wine stalls in city square, THOR's will be doing what they do best and opening two brand-new outdoor bars to really get you in the spirit.
Image: The Hoot Leeds
You can pick from a Scottish Highland Lodge and a Folie Ski Bar, both designed to welcome large groups with their own themed drinks and cosy interiors. You can read more about these bars here.
Not only that, but they'll be a specialist coffee trader as well as a matcha trader if you don't fancy anything alcoholic.
Shopping
The Leeds Christmas Markets isn't just about eating and drinking, it's also about browsing and shopping for those last minute Christmas gifts or gorgeous knick-knacks to decorate your home with over the festive season.
Here's your list of traders to buy gifts from at City Square:
Stump Cross (natural crystal jewellery, fossils and more)
House of the Trembling Madness (festive craft beer cans)
Real Markets Yorkshire (lots of goodies made in Yorkshire)
Yorkshire Print Company (Yorkshire-inspired artwork)
Paper Starlights (handmade paper lanterns)
Scents of Christmas (handcrafted decorations)
Kakuwi (homemade crafts sourced across India and Nepal)
Leeds has been named one of the most ‘pet-friendly’ cities in the UK
Emily Sergeant
A new index has revealed the best cities for pet owners in the UK, and it’s great news for Leeds.
Millions of us share our home with a pet, and making sure we give them the best possible life is often at the forefront of our minds, right?
While there’s a lot people can control about their pet’s lifestyle, many of the factors that affect their happiness are determined by location, and sadly for the 83% of the UK population who live in more urban areas, the challenges to give a pet a good life can feel even greater – with less access to green space, and fewer social spaces to take dogs, for example.
But when it comes to cities, which are the best ones to own a pet in? Well, pet insurance firm Lassie has decided to get to the bottom of this and do some updated research.
Lassie analysed data across nine metrics that determine a pet’s wellbeing to create a ‘Pet-Friendliness Index’, and using this index, the UK’s five most populous cities were each assigned a score out of 100 and ranked to determine which is the most and least pet-friendly.
The index looks at four main categories to gauge how suitable each city is for pets – green space, environment, health, and infrastructure.
Then, within these, experts compared a range of measures, including air quality, temperature, costs, access to vets, road safety, pet-friendly rental housing, social opportunities, and many others.
And Leeds has taken the fourth spot.
The UK’s Most Pet-Friendly Cities
Manchester
Birmingham
Liverpool
Leeds
London
“We tend to think that being a good pet owner comes down to what we do at home, but your postcode could be playing a much bigger role in your pet’s happiness and health than you realise,” commented Hedda Båverud Olsson, who is the CEO and co-founder of Lassie.
“Our findings show that not all cities are created equal when it comes to pets. The difference between living in Manchester and London isn’t just about green space or somewhere to walk your dog, it can mean higher vet bills, poorer air quality and fewer veterinary practices nearby.”
The Hoot -
4th February 2022 
