Over the weekend, the streets of Leeds was lined with onlookers hoping to get a glimpse of Hollywood legends like Samuel L Jackson and Emilia Clarke as they were out filming for their new Marvel series, Secret Invasion.
Over the entire weekend, Bond Court, Greek Street, Alexander Street and Gusto alleyway between Greek Street and Bond Court were closed off to the public for filming.
Popular restaurant, Blackhouse has transformed into the movie set, where the restaurant signage and street signs changed into Russian for filming.
Tattu and Blackhouse were main filming spots for the Marvel series. / Image: George Garforth
Meanwhile, neighbouring restaurant Tattu was used as a crew area and outside onlookers could see a Russian taxi and expensive cars that were being used to film the series.
Throughout the day, both Samuel L Jackson and Emilia Clarke were seen on multiple occasions alongside cast member Ben Mendelsohn.
Hundreds of people queued up to try and catch a glimpse of Hollywood's greatest Marvel cast, but many were turned away due to the set's viewpoint capacity. If you missed out on the cast in Leeds, you'll find them a mere thirty minutes from the city centre, filming in Halifax's Piece Hall.
Over in Halifax, the Piece Hall will be shut from today, Monday 24 January and Monday 31 January for filming. It is rumoured that there will be 260 members of cast and extras, plus an additional 200 crew members taking part throughout the TV show’s weeklong stay in Halifax.
MP for Halifax, Holly Lynch shared on Twitter that the celebrity appearances are going to be a great opportunity for Yorkshire.
A Russian taxi was spotted at filming in Leeds. / Image: The Hoot Leeds
“Not to coolest quote I’ve ever given but this is awesome! I confess to being a massive Marvel geek and so the prospect of filming taking place here in Halifax is incredibly exciting!”
This is what we know about the series Secret Invasion so far:
“Secret Invasion is an upcoming American television miniseries created by Kyle Bradstreet for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics storyline of the same name“.
Filming took place outside Blackhouse. / Image: The Hoot Leeds
Samuel L Jackson will play Nick Fury, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D who is working with Skrulls in deep space; Ben Mendelsohn will play Talos, the leader of the Skrull sect and an ally of Fury, and Kingsley Ben-Adir has been cast as the lead villain.
At the moment, there’s no further information about the roles of the rest of the cast, only that the series will be six episodes long and all the revealed cast will feature in at least one episode.
We're basically half way through the year, so let's see what else we've got to look forward to...spoiler alert, it's a lot.
So far we've had everything from ice bath cafes to listening bars open up in Leeds, and it seems like 2026 is the gift that keeps on giving.
Allow us to get you excited about what's coming to the city...
Dishoom
68–78 Vicar Lane, LS1 7JH
Images: The Hoot Leeds
This one is a biggun' as the ever so popular Indian restaurant is set to open on Friday 14 August in a beautiful Grade-II listed building on Vicar Lane which was formerly Flannels.
First opening in London, Dishoom now has restaurants dotted all over the UK including a huge site in Manchester. The group is famed for its lavish and grand interiors, as well as its home-style curries, grills and breakfasts including its legendary bacon naans.
Acai and the Tribe
88 Vicar Lane
Image: The Manc Group
Acai and the Tribe first opened four years ago in Manchester, and ever since then it's only gone from strength to strength opening up three other locations across the country.
Next stop? Leeds. And we couldn't be happier about it.
So, what can we expect from this aesthetically-pleasing and ultra trendy female-owned business? Well, loaded acai bowls that look almost too good to eat, superfood smoothies, coffees, matcha and savoury options like avocado toast.
This Japanese restaurant serves a menu full of sushi as well as grilled meats on sticks, sharing sides and build-your-own hand rolls. All of this is wrapped up in the most gorgeous interior, which you can see from their jaw dropping new Manchester site.
Occupying the Grade II-listed space on Vicar Lane, the three-storey building will include a 220-cover dining room, 30-cover terrace and an upstairs bar.
Introducing Moods - a new all-day cafe, bar and events venue that will open to the public at First White Cloth Hall on Kirkgate on Friday 31 July.
Created by husband-and-wife founders Will and Hayley Moody, the team behind Buzz Club Tattoo, Moods will occupy the ground floor of the Grade II* listed building.
Alfonso's
Horsforth
Image: The Hoot Leeds
Famed for it’s toasted Cuban sandwiches, stacked subs and loaded breakfast bagels - Alfonsos Deli has made a name for itself for serving some of the best sandwiches around the city.
Such a good reputation in fact, that they’ve just announced a second location over in the leafy suburb of Horsforth. Get in.
Leeds rallies around independent wine bar after thieves smash windows to steal… an empty bottle
Clementine Hall
An independent wine bar in Leeds city centre was broken into over the weekend.
And do you know what the sneaky thief stole? An empty bottle.
Latitude Wine Bar on The Calls issued a statement about the break in over the weekend, they said: "Some unscrupulous ______________ (insert expletives in the comments) decided to smash our window last night to grab a magnum of chartreuse out of our window.
"Obviously it was a dummy bottle, so more fool them, but it also makes this criminal damage more pointless. DON'T THEY KNOW HOW MUCH GLASS COSTS!?
"Well, this puts a real dampener on the month so if any one feels like popping in to buy a bottle in the shop or a glass in the bar or heading online to place an order this weekend it would really help to support an independent wine merchant and bar.
Images: Latitude Wine Bar
"Thank you to one of our customers who found the abandoned dummy bottle and returned it to us today. Legend! Santé and happy Friyay!"
So not only did the thief smash the window to steal an empty bottle, but they didn't even take it home with them.
In classic Leeds fashion, fellow indies flocked to the comments to support Latitude with many promising to pop in over the weekend for a glass or two.
One comment read: "Do you need a sign in your window saying “this is a dummy bottle you dummy”" whilst another said "Damned spit buckets! I’m sure we’ll be in soon, keep your chins up fam."
So if you've been meaning to pop in for a glass of the good stuff, there's no better time than the present.
Sophie Smith -
24th January 2022 
