Twelve years ago, acclaimed Leeds pizza chef and dad of two Mark Baber was living a very different sort of life.
A professional jet setter, he was flying all over for his job and working behind the scenes at European Golf Tour, which is the principle golf tour on the continent.
Then he took a trip to Italy with his wife - and everything changed.
From the moment he tried his first wood-fired pizza, Mark was obsessed. Upon their return to the UK, he and his wife quickly bought a wood-fired oven of their own and he got to work trying to recreate the magic he'd so enjoyed whilst away.
Already an avid home cook, once he'd set his sights on recreating that pizza he was transfixed and spent hours researching techniques on Youtube.
Making his dough by hand in tupperware, he got his first break after visiting Malton Food Festival with his wife, Victoria. Here they were asked if they could fill a slot at the next market. With little to no experience, no dough trays and just the one portable oven sitting in their garden, they decided to go for it.
This was the moment that Wood Fire Dine was born.
Fast forward 12 years and that market stall pop-up is now an award-winning pizza restaurant located in Rothwell, South Leeds.
Mark and his wife finally made the leap in 2017, choosing to open in their local town out of a desire to help rejuvenate the area - which had been hit by a number of high street closures and was looking a tad sorry for itself.
The Commercial Street site was soon a hit, drawing in a string of fans who enthused about the restaurant's quality dough and authentic Italian ingredients, all of which are imported directly from Naples.
In just two years, Mark found himself taking home the coveted award of UK Pizza chef of the year at 2019's national PAPA awards - a dream career moment for the chef, which he celebrated by cooking his gluten and vegan pizza the 'Millennium Special' live for the event in his Leeds United shirt.
Whilst the past year has been difficult, like many fellow hospitality businesses in Leeds Wood Fire Dine has adapted to the times - tweaking his dough recipe to hold up better for takeaways and launching a DIY home kit for families to try at home with their children.
The restaurant also launched a new New York-style dough range in February. This sees the dough cold-proved, allowing the yeast to work on the sugars in the flour for a long period of time for a deeper flavour.
Still, he's looking forward to getting back to normal and plans to reopen the restaurant on Monday 17th May when indoor dining restrictions are eased as part of the government's roadmap out of Covid.
Wood Fire Dine's new reservations system is open for bookings from 12th May.
Leeds
Take a look inside the huge Tulip Festival that’s just opened in Yorkshire with over one million tulips
Farmer Copley's Tulip Festival is back and it's just as beautiful as we remember.
Spring has officially sprung and with it, so does Farmer Copley's iconic Tulip Festival that officially opened last Sunday.
Based in West Yorkshire, nestled between Pontefract and Featherstone, the Copley family really know how to get you feeling ready for the season ahead.
Just moments after entering the festival, we can assure you that winter will feel like a distant memory.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Spanning over 8 acres, Jack and the team have planted over 600,00 tulip bulbs consisting of 100+ different varieties of all shapes and colours that arrived directly from the Netherlands.
In addition to the 500,000 planted last year, that means there's over one million tulips to enjoy - now that is pretty impressive if you ask us.
Varieties include Carnaval de Rio, Tom Pouce, Gavota, Lily Flowering Mix, Blushing Appledorn, Wedding Dress and Rodolfo.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The festival includes five sections that have been split by 5 metre walkways enabling the best customer interaction in the field.
There's two dedicated pick your own areas where a mix of bulbs have been planted to ensure that visitors have a wide range of tulips to explore, pick from and create the perfect bunch of tulips. How lovely is that?
Of course there's plenty of photo opportunities, fairground rides and a bar to enjoy the view with a tipple or two.
This really is the perfect family-friendly day out and with the weather looking gorgeous (for now), we'd take the opportunity to see the tulips looking their best whilst you can.
The festival is on until Sunday 3 May 2026, with tickets starting from just £9.
To find out more and to book your ticket, take a look at Farmer Copleys website. We'll see you in the tulip fields.
Leeds has been crowned one of the best cities in the UK for student nightlife
Clementine Hall
Our city is bursting at the seems with brilliant late night venues for students, but now it’s officially been confirmed.
And it's all down to accommodation provider Canvas who analysed key nightlife factors such as drink prices, the number and ratings of venues, and local safety scores to reveal the best cities in the UK for a night out.
If you've got Leeds as your student city of choice then you're in for a brilliant three years, as we ranked number four in the top ten list. Get in.
Leeds has a whopping 325 venues and a strong 4.40 average rating, drink prices are relatively affordable drinks with a pint costing an average of a fiver and soft drinks at £1.71.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Leeds also came out with a solid safety score of 47.28, so it's fair to say Leeds it’s a well-rounded option for students.Bath took the top spot with 10 venues per 10,000 people and an impressive average rating of 4.45 stars.
Coming in second, Manchester boasts the highest number of bars and clubs overall, with 606 venues, 15 for every 10,000 people and a strong average rating of 4.37 stars and a pint costing slightly less than Bath at £5.50.
In third place was Newcastle and in fifth place was York. It's safe to say that the North dominated the top spots, and rightly so.
The top ten best cities for student nightlife in the UK are:
Georgina Pellant -
11th May 2021 
