One of Leeds' best-loved coffee destinations, Laynes Cafe, is marking 15 years in the city - and is saying thank you with £1.50 coffees.
When? This Wednesday 3 June.
Founded in 2011 by Dave Olejnik, Laynes began life on New Station Street and quickly became one of the first venues in Leeds to focus on carefully sourced and roasted coffee beans, helping lead the way for the city's now-thriving independent coffee scene.
It's practically a Leeds institution at this point, sat proudly with its glowing yellow exterior and queues out the door full of punters looking for their morning caffeine fix.
To celebrate an impressive 15 years in the city, this Wednesday 3 June they'll be selling £1.50 coffees all-day.
Not only that, Laynes will be rolling out a brand refresh with Saul Studios, refreshing its daytime menu (including what Dave reckons might be the best hash browns in the world…maybe), and continuing to grow Laynes Bakery, which launched in 2023 and now supplies a growing list of independent cafes and delis across Leeds.
Dave Olejnik, founder of Laynes Cafe, said: "We never really got to celebrate being 10 — covid had other ideas — so 15 feels like the one to do properly. When I opened Laynes in 2011, the aim was to create somewhere that really cared about coffee, quality and hospitality. To be celebrating 15 years now is incredibly special. Leeds has changed so much in that time, and it's been amazing to see the city's independent food and drink scene grow and flourish. We're really proud to have been part of that journey.
"Rather than mark it with one big day, we wanted to celebrate across the whole year — kicking off with £1.50 coffees on June 3rd as a thank you to everyone who's kept us going. This next chapter for Laynes is a bit of a refresh with Saul Studios, an updated menu with quite possibly the best hash browns in the world, and the bakery continuing to grow. Feels like a great way to celebrate where we've come from while continuing to evolve."
The tiramisu hype lives on, and this time it's coming to Leeds.
It really does feel like the traditional Italian dessert has taken the world by storm as of late.
Everything from tiramisu cups and tiramisu coffees have been popping up all over our feed, and now tiramisu in drawer form is popping up in the city centre.
Misu Tiramisu is an independent business that began at Manchester's Christmas Markets and quickly became one of the most popular operators, all thanks to its miniature tiramisu ‘drawers’.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The individually portioned and colourfully packaged desserts quickly became one of town’s top puddings, and owners Aleem and Aishah went on to launch a stand inside the Manchester Arndale too.
And now they’re branching out again in Leeds inside Trinity shopping centre for a two month residency.
You’ll find all their delicious flavours of handmade tiramisu, including classic, pistachio, chocolate, Biscoff, mango, and lemon - they'll also have some gluten-free tiramisu on offer as well, so no one has to miss out.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Misu Tiramisu owners Aleem and Aishah spent a year refining the recipe for their tiramisus after a trip to Milan, first launching with their first market stall in Sale.
Misu Tiramisu is now open inside Trinity shopping centre opposite Boots Opticians and Pop Specs.
They're open every day of the week for you to get your tiramisu fix, from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 5pm on a Sunday.
And trust us Leeds, they're just as delicious as they are adorable.
Fossilised 320-million-year-old fish found in Leeds’ Roundhay Park
Clementine Hall
A prehistoric fish fossil has been unearthed at Roundhay Park in Leeds.
The fascinating prehistoric skull bone of a coelacanth fish was discovered by a geologist at Roundhay Park earlier this year.
It is thought the creature was frozen in time aeons ago, during an era when the park was submerged under a vast tropical lagoon.
The remarkable discovery has now been kindly donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre.
Image: Leeds City Council
The Leeds fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk he was carrying out ahead of a planned field excursion in the north Leeds park.
Describing the moment he made the discovery, Ru said: “There’s a layer of rock in the park which dates from around 320 million years ago, from a time before the breakup of the continents, when what is now the park would have been situated close the Equator and under the warm waters of a tropical lagoon. West Central Africa would be a good place to find similar environments in the present.
“There’s a bed of freshwater mussels called Carbonicola at one level in the rock, and opening a piece of shale from this bed in my hands I saw something unusual – a distinctive skull bone of a large fish. I knew straight away this was something different and very rare."
The bone was verified byexperts as belonging to a coelacanth older than those found elsewhere in Yorkshire, making it the oldest fossil coelacanth discovered in the region.
Ru added: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels in Roundhay Park.
“That’s really the wonder of geology, looking at the rock and time travelling in the imagination to what was a very different world.”
Clementine Hall -
2nd June 2026 
