After a whirlwind year in Leeds, The Savvy Baker has gone from strength to strength and will now be adding a cafe to her incredible portfolio of brownie-related business ventures.
Incase you haven’t met The Savvy Baker before, the lockdown-success bakery hasn’t been around in Leeds long, but has gained a cult following for its delicious baked goods.
Image: The Savvy Baker
Owned by Savannah Roqaa, the Leeds-based baker has been cooking up a storm online, with almost 50,000 Instagram followers and her brownies are loved by thousands of us in Leeds, including no less than Kalvin Phillips and Tyler Denton.
The new cafe will be located on Lidgett Lane in Roundhay and will be a first for The Savvy Baker, who is taking on the project as a joint venture with partner Jordan Simms.
Savannah told The Hoot Leeds: "We're both so excited to be able to open a customer-facing cafe. I can't wait to be able to meet all of the customers that have been supporting [us] since that start.
"This is still just the beginning and can't wait for what's in the future".
The pair are currently renovating the existing premises, but hope to be open for business by the end of March.
Image: The Savvy Baker
The bakery will be serving all your favourites from the existing bakery, including those incredible brownies and slabs, as well as coffee from North Star and cakes too.
The announcement was made on the business' Instagram page and has since had over 8,000 likes, with countless messages of approval.
The caption said: "OMG. THE SAVVY BAKER CAFE IS COMING!!!!!! We got the keys to the first savvy baker cafe, a new venture and we’re doing it together! So many of you have been asking for it for ages so.. here you have it!! It’s going to take us a little while to renovate and change it from a shell to our dream but it’s worth it!!
"I'm so excited to be able to offer Leeds a place to get your hands on our stuff all the time and we’ll be serving the best @northstarroast coffee. It’s in North leeds. Can anyone recognise where abouts? Tag a mate who you’d bring when we’re open too!!!"
A Leeds pizza takeaway has received a glowing review from popular review duo.
Edges Pizza opened up their first permanent spot in Leeds back in June this year, after making a name for themselves slinging out pizzas at multiple pop-ups across the city.
Owners Grace and Edge from Harrogate opened Edges Pizza two years ago, taking inspiration from trips to New York over the years.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Their pizzas are a love letter to the class New York slice, think thin and crispy rather than chewy and floppy. But above all else, think absolutely delicious.
And now, they've caught the attention of a major review page, with Bite Twice Food Reviews (a page with almost 300k followers) paying Edges a visit.
The food review duo of Gerry del Guercio and Paul Delany popped up in Holbeck beneath the arches to get their hands on a pizza, and the outcome is brilliant.
In the video, Bite Twice said that the pizza is 'f**cking exceptional' and up there with 'one of the best pizzas in the UK'.
Before even taking a bite, they said: "On aesthetic, I don't think anywhere in the UK is doing pizza like this".
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Then after the first bite, they go on to say: "There are very few pizzas in the UK that create this, I’m a little bit blown away".
As Londoners themselves, they go on to say that Edges is 'easily hitting with the best that we’ve got down south'.
And if that's not high praise enough, they sign off the video saying: "Leeds has got an absolute gem. I give this a stamp so hard my foot went through the pizza. Edges. Don Level."
Yorkshire-set Christmas film by Leeds director starring Richard E. Grant set to hit UK cinemas next month
Clementine Hall
A brand-new Christmas film is hitting cinemas nationwide next month - and it’s a proper Leeds success story.
Jack Spring directed his first feature film at just 19 years old and has spent the last decade carving out a career in independent film, as well as co-founding Leeds-based production company Shush Films.
His first movie, Destination: Dewsbury, was shot just down the road in - you guessed it - Dewsbury. And after moving to Leeds from Grimsby, Jack became determined to build his business from the city, putting down roots and growing his production company here.
Image: Supplied
Now, after years of working on independent projects, Jack has taken his biggest leap yet with a brand-new Christmas film, Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint.
Set in Yorkshire, Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint follows Aubrey Flint, a reclusive model soldier painter with a lifelong hatred of Christmas, who is sentenced to community service at Willow Lodge - a retirement home on the brink of closure.
Roped into helping with a chaotic production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Aubrey clashes with its interesting set of residents...
And the cast is about as star-studded as it gets, featuring Richard E. Grant, John Bradley, Celia Imrie, Adjoa Andoh, Sophia Di Martino, Adrian Rawlins and Kiell Smith-Bynoe.
Image: Supplied
The heartwarming festive comedy will hit cinemas nationwide on Friday 6 November - a huge milestone for a Leeds-based director and production company, taking a homegrown Yorkshire story to audiences across the country.
You just can't beat a proper wholesome British Christmas film, so you can best believe we'll be watching in the cinema, popcorn in hand.
Sophie Smith -
8th February 2022 
