Number nine on the Otley Run has some great boozy options for non pub crawl weekends.
Anyone who has popped their head into the Hyde Park pub, will know its a student paradise. There's pool tables aplenty, cheap drinks that come with a discount if you're in education and nobody bats an eyelid if you rock up in fancy dress.
If you've ever taken on Leeds' famous Otley Run, you'll recognise this stop as one of most atmospheric with Indie classic tunes and disco lights that bring the small pub to life for the weekend. Now, there's another reason to visit the popular watering hole, and you don't need any fancy dress outfits.
Instead of downing fourteen pints at different pubs, Hyde Park is offering you the chance to reserve a table (no squeezing yourself between bar stools) and sit down for two whole hours before the Otley runners come flying through the door, whilst treating yourself to unlimited pints, gins and drinks galore.
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, as well as Virgin Mojitos and Espresso Martinis.
For just £5 extra, you can upgrade your bottomless options to a wider range of beers (essentially any craft beers on tap) as well as selected gin and tonics, served as 25ml single servings. Hyde Park hint that there's more to their fiver upgrade stating on their website that you can ask a bartender for the full range of options.
The food options are just as exciting with a choice of either a: brekkie, burger or pizza on offer.
On the breakfast menu, there's your classic full English breakfast, as well as a vegetarian alternative as well as avo on toast, French toast sticks with raspberry coulis and the breakfast stack: a toasted bread bun layered with cheesy beans, crispy bacon, a poached free-range egg and Hollandaise sauce.
Over on the burger menu, there's cheese and bacon on either chicken or beef patties, as well as a vegan Moving Mountains B12 burger for those tempted to opt for a plant-based option.
The pizza menu is loaded with meat, so expect the likes of spicy pepperoni, slow-cooked hickory-smoked BBQ beef burnt ends, streaky bacon and chicken as your toppings of choice.
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.
A Leeds pizza takeaway has received a glowing review from popular review duo.
Edges Pizza opened up their first permanent spot in Leeds back in June this year, after making a name for themselves slinging out pizzas at multiple pop-ups across the city.
Owners Grace and Edge from Harrogate opened Edges Pizza two years ago, taking inspiration from trips to New York over the years.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Their pizzas are a love letter to the class New York slice, think thin and crispy rather than chewy and floppy. But above all else, think absolutely delicious.
And now, they've caught the attention of a major review page, with Bite Twice Food Reviews (a page with almost 300k followers) paying Edges a visit.
The food review duo of Gerry del Guercio and Paul Delany popped up in Holbeck beneath the arches to get their hands on a pizza, and the outcome is brilliant.
In the video, Bite Twice said that the pizza is 'f**cking exceptional' and up there with 'one of the best pizzas in the UK'.
Before even taking a bite, they said: "On aesthetic, I don't think anywhere in the UK is doing pizza like this".
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Then after the first bite, they go on to say: "There are very few pizzas in the UK that create this, I’m a little bit blown away".
As Londoners themselves, they go on to say that Edges is 'easily hitting with the best that we’ve got down south'.
And if that's not high praise enough, they sign off the video saying: "Leeds has got an absolute gem. I give this a stamp so hard my foot went through the pizza. Edges. Don Level."
The 42-year-old Kirkgate Market stall serving freshly shucked oysters for £1.90 a pop
Clementine Hall
Tucked away in Leeds Kirkgate Market you'll find a wonderful seafood stall selling freshly shucked oysters for £1.90 each.
It's places like these that remind us why we love Leeds so much.
Established in 1880, Hayes Seafood is widely regarded as the oldest trader within the historic Kirkgate Market.
For the past 42 years, it has been run by Cliff and Michelle, the loveliest couple who welcome every customer with open arms.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The menu here is small but perfectly formed, focusing on fresh, ready-to-eat seafood that you can enjoy with a squeeze of lemon and a dollop of mayonnaise at most.
Delivered fresh every morning, there's pre-cracked crab shells, brown and white crab meat, cockles, crawfish tails - all perfectly prepared for you to eat at their bar or high tables opposite.
But, it's the oysters that you'll see people queueing for. And rightly so.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Everything here is prepared to order right in front of you, and for no extra fee. You can choose from two types of oysters: super salty Lindisfarne oysters or the slightly sweeter English Loch Fyne.
We recommend having a couple of each, pulling up a stool right by the counter and getting stuck in. If you ask Cliff nicely, he might tell you a bit about the history of the place - but you may have to order a couple more oysters for that.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
You're left to dress them yourself, whether you prefer dash of fiery tabasco or a few pickled shallots. But to be honest, they're delicious just as they come.
This spot is a real piece of Leeds history, and the queues at lunchtime as well as the repeat regular customers proves just how special it is.
All it's missing is a champagne stall next to it...now wouldn't that be perfect?
Sophie Smith -
27th January 2022 
