It's time to get your shamrocks out and don your best green outfits because the St Patrick's Day Parade is back in Leeds.
St Patrick’s Day isn’t until the 17th, but the highly-anticipated annual parade is due to take place on Sunday 12 March 2023 this year and we couldn't be more excited.
The parade will bring together colourful floats, marching bands, walking displays, and representatives from Irish organisations, schools, clubs and societies from across the whole of Leeds, making it a great day out for all the family.
You can join in with the parade and head through Leeds city centre before reaching the party on Millennium Square from 11am until 4pm, where there will be a full afternoon of joyous music and dance from local musicians, dancers and invited guests.
Image: Leeds St Patrick's Day Parade
Guinness isn’t mandatory, but it of course is widely encouraged.
The parade will set off from Millennium Square at 11am before travelling through Leeds City Centre and returning to the square at 12pm.
The walking parade will include floats from Irish community groups including schools, sports groups and cultural organisations, who will also be joined by representatives from the Leeds Ukrainian community.
St Patrick’s Day Parade in 2019. / Image: Leeds Going Irish
Music will be provided the City of Leeds Pipe Band, Huddersfield Brass Band and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Pipe Band with a special guest performance from of course, Tommy K the DJ who will be providing the tunes all day long.
So with all thing alongside the luck of the Irish, you're bound to have a fantastic day.
Special guests will include Lord Mayor of Leeds, Robert Gettings MBE JP and Lady Mayoress Councillor Lesley Gettings.
Leeds Rhinos Chief Executive, Gary Hetherington will also be cutting the ribbon to open the parade.
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 -
3rd March 2023 
