This week is your last chance to apply for a street road closure for the Platinum Jubilee weekend in Leeds.
Leeds City Council is inviting local communities to host street parties for the occasion, but your last chance to apply is Friday 15 April- so make sure if you're looking to clsoe your road for a Jubilee-themed street party over the June bank holiday, you get it in quickly.
With Queen Elizabeth II set to mark her Platinum Jubilee from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5 June 2022, making her the first ever British monarch to reach this milestone, and with the UK to get an extra bank holiday to celebrate, Leeds City Council is offering anyone the chance to host a street party.
The Platinum Jubilee celebrates the Queen's Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne, and a remarkable seven decades of service to the British people.
On a national scale, a number of events are planned for the celebratory four-day weekend - including Trooping the Colour, lighting of Platinum Jubilee Beacons, a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral, and of course, an extra bank holiday.
If that's not enough to keep you entertained, there will be performance in London to tell the story of the Queen’s reign through a pageant that will include a ‘River of Hope’, a section that will see over 200 silk flags flow through The Mall to replicate a moving river.
But a little closer to home, you can now submit a request to close your street off for the day and host a good, old-fashioned street party.
Officially, Saturday 4 June, is the day of the Big Jubilee Lunch. Street parties in their masses are already being planned across the UK and neighbours are expected to come together to mark the occasion, so this is likely to be the most popular date to close off your street and celebrate with neighbours.
This said, Leeds City Council has stated that residents of Leeds are encouraged to apply to close their street and celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend, with the expected dates of Thursday 2 June - Sunday 5 June 2022 in mind for road closures.
Leeds residents can now request to close their road for a street party this summer / Credit: Tim Ellis (via Flickr)
The Queen's Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend will also see the royal announcement of the winner of the Platinum Pudding Competition. Back in January, it was announced this morning that Buckingham Palace is searching for the perfect pudding to celebrate the platinum celebration.
Entries are due to be judged by the likes of culinary legend and national treasure, Dame Mary Berry, and the dish will follow in the footsteps of the British staple dish, coronation chicken, a dish created by Le Cordon Bleu to celebrate the Queen’s coronation banquet in 1953.
If you can't wait until June to celebrate, the Platinum Jubilee Celebration will kick off Thursday 12 May - Sunday 15 May 2022 with smaller scale events celebrating the monarch. In London, over 1,000 performers and an additional 500 horses will take part in a 90-minute show in honour of Her Majesty. The performance will take the audience through the Queen’s reign as well as looking back on year’s gone by- right from Elizabeth I to the present day.
The deadline to apply to close a road is Friday 15 April, and you can find out more information and submit an application via the Leeds City Council website.
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:
Sophie Smith -
14th April 2022 
