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Leeds
Roxy Ball Room on Merrion Street ready to reopen revamped three-floor venue
Leeds-based Roxy Ball Room is set to return bigger and better on Monday 17th May when it reopens to reveal a supersized gaming utopia spanning three floors.
The revamped venue will still focus heavily on the ball games, food, and drink that the brand has become famous for, whilst unveiling some exciting new gaming options to make it the city’s premier gaming bar.
Former sister venue Roxy Arcade has been completely ripped out and refitted as Roxy Ball Room, creating one mammoth gamer’s paradise with its spacious basement area. Here, a diverse range of entertainment will be available offering endless hours of fun, along with a shiny new bar area.
This includes an all-new Crazy Pool course, which offers up an insanely playable mash-up of crazy golf and pool. Players must navigate a variety of obstacles to pot the ball on a waist-high mini-golf course bathed in UV light, using a pool cue instead of a putter.
Roxy Ballroom
The basement will also feature two newly installed Duckpin Bowling Lanes, where players can flaunt their competitive streak with a game that splices ten-pin bowling with skittles. Another game to make its Leeds debut is Bank Shot Shuffleboard, which twists the popular game with a board that loops back on itself, making it even more challenging to get the puck into the scoring zone. The basement area will boast two Bank Shot Shuffleboards, as well as a ping pong table.
Also new to Roxy Ball Room are three hi-tech private karaoke rooms, where budding performers can order a round of drinks at the push of a button,
and a selection of iconic arcade machines, including the ever-popular basketball.
The ground floor bar will feature no less than five beer pong tables, whilst the light and airy first floor will boast 4 full-size American pool tables, two shuffleboards, two beer pong tables and two more ping pong tables.
Guests can expect the same stellar selection of draught lagers and craft beers as before, including Roxy Lager, Camden Pale and ABK Weissbier.
The Roxy bar team will be on-hand across the venue's three bars to shake up both classic and signature cocktails, including the bestselling Ping Star Martini and the Tropical Rumbull. Hungry gamers will be able to hit up Roxy’s bold and tasty food menus, which spans loaded nachos, chicken wings, pizzas, and burgers.
And, whilst Roxy fans will have to hold on until May the 17th to get their game on, they can get a taste of their signature food and drink menus from Monday 12th April onwards at the Merrion Street party.
Roxy has joined forces with neighbouring bars including Mojo, Verve and Yard & Coop to create the city’s biggest outdoor hospitality area. A roof spanning the full street will ensure guests are kept both safe and sheltered from the elements, whilst DJ’s will be on hand with a diverse party playlist to suit the highly anticipated return of the iconic nightlife scene synonymous with Leeds.
Roxy Brand Development Manager Joel Mitchell had this to say ahead of the re-launch: ‘’We are all extremely excited about taking our Merrion Street venue to another level! The people of Leeds are long overdue for a big night out on the town. Roxy Ball Room is coming back in a big way to help create memories that can make up for all those special occasions that we’ve all missed out on.’
‘’The bar is ready to go from Monday 17th May, and I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, from our loyal customers to co-workers and friends from our neighbouring bars. I’m confident the people of Leeds are going to love our new-look, supersized venue when it finally reopens, and I know jaws will drop when they check out the new basement bar and see the massive selection of gaming that is now on offer.
With Bank Shot Shuffleboard, Crazy Pool, Karaoke, Arcade Machines and Duckpin Bowling thrown into the mix, Roxy Ball Room Merrion Street is going to be the city’s number one gaming hotspot, with an unrivalled selection of entertainment options. 2021 is going to be a year to remember for sure.’’
Follow Roxy on Facebook and check out their website to keep up to date with the latest news.
Leeds
The Leeds bakery serving up fresh pastries straight from their backyard
In case you missed it, a bakery in Bramley has received lots of attention recently after people have sampled some of its impressive bread and pastries before raving about it online.
Since then, Ruth, the mastermind behind it all, has generated queues from her summer house-turned bakehouse with people coming from far and wide to sample her flaky favourites and doughy delights.
Baking for more than 10 years and opening The Fat Pigeon just outside of Leeds city centre three years ago, there's no denying that the pastries and more produced here are some of the best.
This micro-bakery has a mighty menu and although Ruth's personal tastes might lean more savoury, the menu heavily favours sugary baked goods.
Anyone who loves a good sweet treat will be glad to know there's croissants, traybakes, cinnamon buns and the star-studded kouign-amann, a French-originating buttery pastry that covers all bases as it's sugary, sweet and slightly salty - heaven in baked form.
Ruth posing with a pigeon statue alongside some of her delicious golden creations / Image Credits: The Hoot Leeds / The Fat Pigeon
There's plenty more dough-based delights that cater to the savoury palate too. Think sourdough loaves, baguettes and focaccia that's oozing with perfectly paired herbs and generous amounts of oil.
What makes this place even more special is the fact that not only the products being created and consumed made by a Leeds local, most if not all of the offerings are made using Yorkshire produce.
Ruth has made sure to keep local produce at the heart of all her bakes with Met's in Farsley who providing cheese, Whiteley's contributing fresh vegetables like parsley and rhubarb, flour from East Yorkshire's own Stringers and The Organic Dales for any dairy items - it really doesn't get more Yorkshire than this.
Enough from us, social media user's are singing this bakery's praises too as one commented "Delicious. Delicious. Delicious" and another going as far to say, "Beats every pastry I had in Copenhagen".
The sourdough loaves and bloomers at The Fat Pigeon are homemade and look as good as they taste / Image Credits: The Hoot Leeds / The Fat Pigeon
Hopefully you're reading this on a Friday or early Saturday morning, otherwise all I can do is apologise for tempting you with all this bakery's homemade golden goodness so far in advance.
The Fat Pigeon is open from 9am to 12pm every Saturday meaning you can stock up on some of Leeds' best bread and pastries to tie you over until the next weekend, depending on your will power.
Here’s five of the best new openings coming to Leeds this year
Clementine Hall
We're almost 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 this 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.
New York-style pizza pop-up, Edges Pizza, is set to open in Leeds.Last summer you may have had the privilege to enjoy a slice of Edges Pizza at one of their many pop-up residences across the city.
Their longest stint was at the sun-drenched roof terrace of Green Room, and it's safe to say their pizza went down an absolute treat. Edges will be opening their doors in Leeds city centre on Thursday 18 June.
Okay, this one might not be happening this year...but we still had to mention it so please forgive us.
Trinity Leeds is embarking on a major transformation with a £15 million expansion, introducing a second food court called ‘Freight Island’ The upgrade will add around 72,000 sq ft of new space, including a stunning rooftop terrace overlooking City Square the perfect spot to enjoy great food with skyline views.
The Hoot -
9th April 2021 
