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Leeds Festival announce biggest staging and area overhaul in the festival’s 27 year history
We'll see you in August.
Leeds Festival introduce five new stages for 2026, making it the biggest overhaul in the festival's history.
Leeds Festival is just around the corner now, but maybe not quite as you know it.
Organisers have announced a completely revamped stage layout that marks the biggest staging and arena overhaul in the festival’s 27 year history.
This year, Leeds Festival will see five new stages take over Bramham Park, each with their own new identities offering an experience never seen before.
Let's break them down...
The Grid
The home of the festival’s main stage, The Grid is where iconic headline moments happen. Expect to witness headliners Charli xcx, Fontaines D.C., Dave, Raye, Florence + The Machine and Chase & Status alongside Sombr, Skepta, Role Model, Loyle Carner, Blossoms, Declan McKenna, Jade, Maisie Peters, Keo and more soundtracking The Grid this year.
Not only that, but Kasabian will be making history as the first ever Thursday night headliner of Leeds Festival.
The Gallery
A brand new stage for 2026, The Gallery is an undercover immersive stage. Innovative LED screen lights and immersive production runs throughout the entire stage.
The Gallery is ready to create iconic moments from Josh Baker, Geese, Kneecap, Skye Newman, Kettama and Holly Humberstone among others.
The Warehouse
The Warehouse is a brand-new purpose-built home for dance music with viewing platforms behind the decks, plus huge screen production welcoming special sets from Skepta b2b Prospa, Hybrid Minds, Hedex, Silva Bumpa and Rossi.
The Ballroom
As the name might suggest, for the first-time ever Leeds Festival will have a transformed stage complete with unique chandeliers and draping that plays host to artists who are defining and dominating 2026.
The Ballroom is primed for legendary breakthrough sets from YT, Florence Road, Niko B, Paris Paloma, Bassvictim, Overpass, SPEED, Frost Children, Bleech 9:3, Westside Cowboy, Chloe Qisha, Radio Free Alice, dexter in the newsagent, WHATMORE and Clementine Douglas amongst others.
The Canopy
The Canopy will welcome a new chapter for new music - with a stage dedicated to festival fans’ next favourite artists. It will play host to the likes of Violet Grohl, Villanelle, December 10, Camille Blackman, Kibo, Finessekid, Cruz Beckham and The Breakers and more.
These new stages are joined at Leeds Festival by the return of fan favourites LS23 and Piccadilly Circus, with full programming to be revealed in the coming weeks.
We hope you're just as excited as we are, find out more here. We'll see you on the fields.
Read more: Even more names added to the already stacked lineup for Leeds Festival 2026
Featured image - Supplied
News
Here’s how you can get FREE Tony’s Chocolonely and Yorkshire Tea in Leeds next week
Clementine Hall
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.”
Read more: A 1970s-inspired cocktail bar is coming to Leeds this month from the team behind some of the city’s best bars
‘This recognition belongs to you’ – Leeds restaurant added to the Michelin Guide just months after opening
Featured image - Supplied
News
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."
Read more:
Featured image - The Hoot Leeds
