Slam Dunk festival has shared a statement confirming one of its directors has stepped down, in the wake of allegations.
The popular punk festival takes place next month across two sites, one of which is here in Leeds.
This year's line-up is set to include headline performances from the likes of Good Charlotte, Knocked Loose, Sublime, and Taking Back Sunday.
But Slam Dunk has been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week after allegations against one of its directors came to light.
Slam Dunk said in its statement, which did not get into specifics about the nature of the allegations, that the festival 'remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all employees, partners, and customers'.
They added that the director has stepped down, but 'strongly refutes' the allegations.
The statement then promised 'transparency and honesty' and said that more updates would be provided when appropriate.
Slam Dunk wrote: "We are aware of allegations published yesterday relating to one of our directors. We take these allegations seriously and understand that they may be distressing and hard to process for our community.
"Our Slam Dunk fans, staff, and artists are, as always, our top priority.
"While he strongly refutes these allegations, the director in question has agreed, in consultation with the board, to step down from Slam Dunk operations while this matter is ongoing.
"Slam Dunk remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all employees, partners, and customers.
"Our values and culture are fundamental to how we operate, and we are committed to upholding them.
"It would be inappropriate for us to comment further on an ongoing legal matter.
"However, we promise transparency and honesty to our Slam Dunk community and will provide updates when it is appropriate to do so."
Slam Dunk returns to Temple Newsam in Leeds on Sunday 24 May.
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.”
Daisy Jackson -
28th April 2026 
