Leeds

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Actually you can get decent italian and polish stuff at the indoor market and the butchers and fishmongers absolutely piss on Kirkstall morrisons for choice price and quality. Easily worth walking past 'mutants'.

[phes]

6 years and counting for me.

I really like it, despite living in the midst of studentville which goes against my regular working hours, there's an independent cinema round the corner and my favourite takeaways.

Apparently there are things in the city centre but I try not to travel that far.

Although, before Leeds I lived in Blackpool so, you know, it's better than Blackpool!

which are your favourite takeaways/restaurants in the area?  One thing i've not done much of is buy from local takeaways, probably because so many of them look like amusement parks for disease. I've eaten at the Peach and Pear cafe a few times and Brown's Caribbean takeout and they're both excellent.

I have a daily budget of £3.66 this summer, so you've three months to consider your reply.

[Boycey]

It's been a while since I was in that there studentville, but The Clock Cafe was always a good restaurant for me...

[biggytitbo]

Actually you can get decent italian and polish stuff at the indoor market and the butchers and fishmongers absolutely piss on Kirkstall morrisons for choice price and quality. Easily worth walking past 'mutants'.

A lot of vendors in Leeds indoor market do piss on their produce, that's true.

[levitica]

I lived in LS6 as well, now LS4, it's very weird to hear people mentioning all these places.  I also recommend the Brudenell, the indoor market, and Kirkstall Morrisons.  And Tropical World is great, especially if it's winter and your heating is crap.  Like others have said, it is a pretty safe town (including the indoor market, which I think is good-freaky rather than scary.  Avoid the headshop with the knives out the back though).  For the takeaway problem, the answer is Lahore on Burley Road.  Sheesh Mahal and Bengal Brasserie are good too. 

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Its also odd hearing biggy describe broken biscuit selling mutants while recommending The Angel, a pub where a lot of them hang out. (great sam smiths pub and location of at least 4 Cab meets)

[dr beat]

Leeds is alright, although personally I think Sheffield has slightly more of a bohemian studenty vibe, but thats probably cos I know the place better.

Not a fan of: Castleford, Wakefield, Featherstone.  Batley's alright though.

[Nuclear Optimism]

Thanks for the replies people.No idea which bit I might end up in, so I can't be too specific.

One thing that's bothering me; it's not too grey and oppressive is it, with all the big buildings and that? I'm from the Isle of Man, so cities are quite a step up. Obviously I'm not expecting New York, but you know.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Its true (about the vibe), it has. Leeds has it but just in smaller pockets. Its less friendly generally, and everything more businesslike.

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

Shoulders makes a good point about the city centre; it's compact, and (unlike many other city centres), does actually feel like a bustling city centre rather than one long street with shops in it surrounded by horrible concrete carparks.

This is the main selling point of Leeds for me. The centre doesnt feel confused like Sheffield, Bristol or Nottingham. You actually feel like youre walking around something specifically designed for working and socialising in. It has a nice uniform identity, even if it doesnt happen to be the most polished idenity in the world.

Bad points: in danger of being swapped by some very tatty looking residental high-rises that look like they were designed in mspaint. For the 3rd largest city in the UK, has very little to say for itself in terms of music or local artists. Can't complete with somewhere like Liverpool when it comes to museums and art galleries.

[Boycey]

Like anywhere else, Leeds has it's fair share of shitholes and monolithic suicide generators but you can also find some lovely places as long as you look,

Not sure how your work will treat you / how much cash you have but if you want somewhere green and open - though quite expensive - then consider Ilkley (oh, and it's a 20 minute train journey from the city centre) or Burley-In-Wharfedale or, closer to the city, Roundhay or Chapel Allerton has some lovely places.

Do not consider Keighley unless you have a prodigious drug habit and general suicidal tendencies.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I was there for New Year once. It was aight. We wasted a lot of time though as a friend who lived there insisted that we walk to this one pub he liked, which took an hour, and it was snowing. And it was a shit pub.

[sirhenry]

I've lived in various towns and cities around the UK over the years, and Leeds is the only one I've come back to (6 times so far). It has just the right mix for me - enough work that you can usually find a job you want to do, generally friendly people, wide range of world foods, low cost of living and easy access to green spaces.

The "very tatty looking residential high-rises" that have gone up recently have all been student flats, which means that the Victorian terraces are returning to being family homes, while the student presence is less overwhelming (in LS6). A fair number of students stay in Leeds after they finish, so there's a reasonable amount of arty stuff going on, especially film. As folks have said, the area around the Brudenells, with the Brudenell Social Club, Hyde Park Picture House and asian shops/supermarkets, is always worth a visit.

I'm another fan of the indoor market, but then again I judge shopping by the quality and cost of the produce rather than the clientele. And the joy of the city centre being so compact is that you can easily walk between the market, Chinese supermarkets and almost all other shops without spending all day or needing a car. The Kirkstall Morrison's is almost certainly the best supermarket in the city, though.

And I've yet to live in a city with more green space. From where I live to the University is just over a mile, with over 90% of the route through the woods or park. And if I go the other way it's woodland and open fields for the 5 mile route to Golden Acre Park, a bird sanctuary. As with all cities there are some unsavoury areas (both too rich and too poor), but overall it's not hard to find a nice place to live.

And if you're looking at Ilkley, stop and look at Otley instead. Slightly closer (but on the same train/bus route), but a lot less snooty and a lot less expensive.

Let us know when you move and we can have a Welcome Meet.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I've only been a couple of times but it seems nice enough, certainly they take their beer pretty seriously there, which can only be a good thing.  But probably the best thing about the place is how close it is to the Dales.  Half an hour or so on the train and you're suddenly in some of the most beautiful, windswept landscapes in the UK.

[Gulftastic]

Ah and what Boycey said! Hyde Park Picture House is great. As is Brudenell Social Club.

Hyde Park Picture House is where we used to go for the Saturday morning pictures when we were kids, and my Mum was an associate member of the Brudenell Soc'. As she was a woman, she wasn't allowed to be a full member.

All this was before it became student central of course. In those days, the Royal Park pub had a vast area behind it with a small hill fort for kids.  We used to use it occasionally for school fights, as my school was the sadly now closed Royal Park Middle School.

And I second Otley as a good place for a pub crawl, you just have to remember that it has not got a train station, and plan accordingly for your return at the end of the night. Your best bet is to plan to leave early enough to get a 33A bus to Guiseley, which drops you off right outside the Station pub.

[sirhenry]

All this was before it became student central of course. In those days, the Royal Park pub had a vast area behind it with a small hill fort for kids.

The last Sunday it was open dozens of families turned up for a lunchtime drink while their kids played there and none of us left before closing time that night. When it came time to feed the kids, people just went to the shops on Brudenell Grove, bought those tinfoil barbecue trays and various foods and it turned into an impromptu barbecue party. It felt like a mini Unity Day festival. Happy memories...

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Other nice Dales locations nearby- Mirfield for good canal walking, Bingley is a good starting place for some nice walks (and the Brown Cow does 8 different Timothy Taylors ales and a cracking Sunday lunch), Pool likewise. All easily accessible on a train or the local bus.

Burley-In-Wharfedale has been mentioned but really is lovely, and remember to go to The Queens Head for lunch.

I used to play open mic in the basement of the Royal Park in the bad old days of skint second year uni and depress students.

[chris87]

Actually you can get decent italian and polish stuff at the indoor market and the butchers and fishmongers absolutely piss on Kirkstall morrisons for choice price and quality. Easily worth walking past 'mutants'.

There's also a small, excellent chinese resturaunt which is very cheap and presumably authentic, seeing as most of its patrons are chinese themselves.

[biggytitbo]

Haworth is only a bus ride or two from Leeds too. When I first moved to Leeds and was skint we used to spend a quid getting the 760 up to Keighley and go to Haworth, or the 33 up to Ilkely to go UFO spotting. Although in fairness neither of those things are good things about Leeds itself.

[Mr Eggs]

Does Leeds still have the rudest bus drivers on earth? They were superb,them lads.

[HappyTree]

from Bradford Yorkshire
to Bristol Temple Meads
you don't have to change your underwear
but you have to change at Leeds

John Hegley

[biggytitbo]

Does Leeds still have the rudest bus drivers on earth? They were superb,them lads.

There's one 60 year old lady bus driver in Leeds who's a total lunatic. She acts like she's driving unruly kids to school rather than grown fare paying adults. I remember once some upstairs had rung the bell, she stopped at the stop, but nobody came down th stairs and got off.


She actually refused to set off again until whoever rung the bell owned up.

[Mr Eggs]

There's one 60 year old lady bus driver in Leeds who's a total lunatic. She acts like she's driving unruly kids to school rather than grown fare paying adults. I remember once some upstairs had rung the bell, she stopped at the stop, but nobody came down th stairs and got off.


She actually refused to set off again until whoever rung the bell owned up.

Did they own up or are you still there?

[Penfold]

which are your favourite takeaways/restaurants in the area?  One thing i've not done much of is buy from local takeaways, probably because so many of them look like amusement parks for disease. I've eaten at the Peach and Pear cafe a few times and Brown's Caribbean takeout and they're both excellent.

I have a daily budget of £3.66 this summer, so you've three months to consider your reply.

I keep meaning to try Brown's as I walk past it everyday on my long half mile walk to work.

I'm currently a huge fan of anything that comes wrapped in a nan from Zulfi's (Winner of the WKD Golden Kebab Award 2012). The place itself isn't much to look at but it's open until 5am for a late night snack, then open again at midday for lunch.

I may have gained weight recently.

There's also Pitza Cano for pizza and The Grove Cafe for curry.

As I don't work in the city centre I don't go there much except for comics but I do enjoy The Adelphi and Sela Bar and as others have said I like the layout of the city centre as sprawling masses annoy me.

[Oops! Wrong Planet]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0X0222Iwhk#t=154s

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm4lNqEc-Mo

[Oops! Wrong Planet]

If I lived in Leeds I'd get a job in a funeral parlour and tell everyone I was moving to London to be a comedy writer.

[Mister Six]

Time was Id have recommended visiting the corn exchange which was an old meeting hall full of independent shops and bustling with trade. It got bought by a cunt and is now an echoing husk with a nothingy restaurant masquerading as fine dining. They have refurbed the building which looks fantastic so maybe just pop in for a gawp.

Cuh, I preferred it when it was all lovely red-brown wood, with black railings and full-size biplanes hanging from the ceiling. Now it's all cream-coloured and dull.

However, the area behind the corn exchange still had loads of little shops and bars last time I poked around there. Just try not to veer too close to the bus station. the blasted area around that is like the city equivalent of gangrene.

[Mister Six]

Thanks for the replies people.No idea which bit I might end up in, so I can't be too specific.

What about you? What are you looking for from the city?

One thing that's bothering me; it's not too grey and oppressive is it, with all the big buildings and that? I'm from the Isle of Man, so cities are quite a step up. Obviously I'm not expecting New York, but you know.

Obviously this is a perspective thing, so it's hard to tell what you'd find 'oppressive', but I generally find the city centre to be very attractive - most of the buildings are lovely old stone things, with statues and crenellations and wotnot (one comic book artist worked some of the more impressive buildings into Batman comics), so they don't feel like horrible, faceless monoliths. And all the shops and arcades (as in Victorian-style enclosed shopping streets, not shitty dark rooms with knackered copies of Street Fighter bleeping away) make it feel bustling and lively, not gloomy and miserable.

[Nuclear Optimism]

What about you? What are you looking for from the city?

Somewhere reasonably crime-free, quiet and green (ie an expensive suburban area that I'd never be able to afford).