Leeds Pride, one of the city’s most exciting weekends of the year, have announced the first wave of acts performing at the event this summer.
Taking place on Sunday 20 July 2025, chart-topping band Liberty X will be headlining the main stage performing their biggest hits.
Joining them will be The Cartoons and live from the West end, Queenz the show as well as popular dance music artists, Kelly Lorena and Booty Luv.
The details were announced this week at the official Leeds Pride pre-festival campaign launch at Harvey Nichols on Wednesday evening attended by Lord Mayor, Councillor Abigail Marshall Katung, Emmerdale stars Ash Palmisciano and Natalie Ann Jamieson.
Leeds Pride is sure to be another huge celebration, after smashing records in 2024 with over 80,000 visitors - its biggest attendance to date with over 160 parade entries and support from 238 businesses.
Image: Leeds Pride
Now in its 19 th year, Leeds Pride is one of the largest free one-day festivals in Yorkshire and is run by a dedicated team who work tirelessly to ensure the event remains completely free for all who wish to attend.
The 2025 festival will be no different, with a full calendar of events including fringe celebrations with two stages of artist performances on Millennium Square and Lower Briggate, a huge parade ad of course the Viaduct Street party.
Leeds Pride spokesperson Terry George said: “Preparations for this year’s Pride are in full swing and we are thrilled to have Jet2holidays support Leeds Pride 2025 as headline sponsor for the second year running.
Image: Leeds Pride
"Each year the city surpasses itself in its support of Leeds Pride and we were overwhelmed by last year’s record-breaking event and electric atmosphere. We have lots more surprises up our sleeves, with an even better festival programme this year for everyone to enjoy.
“Of course, the event wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated team and sponsors, and we would like to invite any individuals or organisations that wish to be part of this year’s festival to contact the team for more information on how to get involved.”
For more information on how to become a Leeds Pride sponsor, take a look at their website.
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 -
28th February 2025 
