Leeds Lowdown: What’s on in June 2026

June in Leeds is hotting up. World-class cricket arrives at Headingley, Millennium Square kicks off its summer series, Leeds Lit Fest returns with its strongest programme yet, and the Grand has back-to-back musicals for a fortnight. Throw in comedy, community markets, inflatable obstacle courses and a zipwire over Elland Road, and it makes you wish June had more than thirty days. Here’s where to start…

Festivals

The bold and beautiful Goodlife Festival returns to the grounds of Harewood House on Saturday 6 June, following a sold-out debut in 2025. Expect house, disco, funk and soul from the likes of Armand Van Helden, Groove Armada, Roger Sanchez and Inner City at one of the most picturesque settings in Yorkshire. VIP tickets include a premium chill area and fast-track entry if you’d rather ease into it. Coaches run from Leeds city centre, so you don’t have to drive.

Over at Project House, it’s back-to-back weekend festivals: Garage Republic (Artful Dodger, Heartless Crew, Kele Le Roc) on Saturday, 20 June from midday and Love the 90s (DJ Sammy, N-Trance, Baby D) on Saturday, 27 Jun from 1 pm. Both are 18+ events with prices starting from £24. Prepare for feel-good energy and a fair amount of nostalgia.

If that’s not your tempo, Lotherton Hall’s 1940s Weekend on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June invites you to dance on the lawn or sit back and enjoy live performances by Marina May and Luka Watanabe as they perform 40s-era classics.

Elsewhere, the Northern Man Festival returns from 11 to 21 June across various city venues, timed to coincide with Men’s Health Week. This year’s theme of ‘What Shapes a Man?’ brings together men’s community groups, services and events from across Leeds in a format that feels more celebratory than campaign. It’s one to keep your eye on.

Arts, Craft and Culture

Leeds International Tattoo Expo takes over first direct bank arena from Saturday, 6 to Sunday, 7 June for its 11th annual edition. More than 200 international tattoo artists, covering traditional, realism, fine line, neo-traditional, and blackwork, fill the venue over two days. You can book in to get tattooed by artists you’d normally wait months to see, or simply browse the boutique traders market and take in the live entertainment if you’ve come for the atmosphere rather than the ink.

Woolfest returns to Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills on Saturday 6 June, with a packed craft market, expert spinning and weaving demonstrations, live music, morris dancers, a pop-up tea room, talks and hands-on workshops. Whether you knit, crochet, spin or just like the idea of giving it a go, it’s worth the trip. The museum itself is worth exploring while you’re there, with working looms, a 1920s cinema and one of the best industrial interiors in the city.

Leeds Lit Festival, the award-winning festival of words and imagination, runs from Saturday 6 to Sunday 14 June, with a highlight event this year: Bluemoose Books’ 20th Birthday Bash, celebrating the independent Leeds publisher that has championed some of the most important voices in Northern fiction over two decades. 

This year’s programme is the strongest yet, with more than 50 events across venues throughout the city. Headline names include Sir Vince Cable discussing shifting global power in Eclipsing the West, beloved poet and performer John Hegley presenting New and Selected Potatoes, award-winning poet Kim Moore with her collection The House of Broken Things, and spoken-word performer Naomi Wood bringing her new show, Monster, to the festival stage. 

There’s also the high-energy Say Owt Slam, Rowan McCabe’s Hard Knocks, and a full programme of workshops, community events and readings for every kind of book lover. The festival is volunteer-run and largely unfunded; if you can support it, do. Full programme and tickets at leedslitfest.co.uk.

Live Music

Craig Revel Horwood is at City Varieties Music Hall on Monday, 1 June with Songs Boys Don’t Sing. Strictly’s sharpest judge takes to one of the city’s most atmospheric stages for an evening of music, drama, dance and song. And yes, there will probably be a bit of Strictly gossip.

Rebecca Ferguson plays City Varieties Music Hall on Wednesday, 3 June as part of her 15 Years Stripped tour. It’s a rare opportunity to hear the full power of Ferguson’s soulful vocals up close, accompanied by Tom Seals on piano, with stripped-back performances of her biggest hits at one of the city’s most intimate venues.

Pop sensation Lily Allen brings her biggest headline tour to first direct bank arena on Sunday 21 June, supporting her fifth studio album, West End Girl. Overwhelming demand for sold-out theatre shows prompted Allen to expand to arena dates. If you’re a fan, this is the one.

The Millennium Square Summer Series kicks off on Friday, 26 June, with Utah Saints presenting Club Classical Ibiza, where dance music classics meet live orchestral performance by the Orchestra of Opera North. Special guests include Rozalla (Everybody’s Free) and Janice Robinson (Livin’ Joy). Gates open at 6 pm; be prepared for any weather and bring your best dancing shoes. 

The beloved 80s Classical night returns the following evening, Saturday 27 June, for its seventh year with Bananarama, Nik Kershaw, Johnny Hates Jazz and Nick Heyward, all backed by the Orchestra of Opera North. The decade’s biggest hits in full orchestral arrangements, outdoors in the city centre. It consistently sells out; don’t leave it.

On Tuesday, 30 June, rising Texas country star Dylan Gossett brings his intimate, heartfelt sound to Millennium Square as part of the Sounds of the City series, supported by Buffalo Traffic Jam. Gates open at 6:30 pm.

Comedy

Joanne McNally: Pinotphile comes to Leeds Grand Theatre on Wednesday, 3 June. Following the runaway success of The Prosecco Express, McNally returns with a show about situationships, revenge, frenemies and rejection, navigated with her trademark irreverence. Co-host of the My Therapist Ghosted Me podcast and a Taskmaster fan favourite, she’s one of the most in-demand live acts in the country right now.

Matt Forde: Defying Calamity arrives in Leeds on Monday, 15 June. The UK’s leading political comedian brings his new show to the City Varieties Music Hall and, given the current state of things, there’s absolutely no shortage of material. It’s sharp, well-informed and consistently funny.

Theatre

Legally Blonde: The Musical is back in fashion at Leeds Grand from Tuesday 9 to Saturday 13 June, led by Amber Davies as Elle Woods. The latest incarnation of this ultimate feel-good rom-com comes from the creative team behind Director Nikolai Foster’s Kinky Boots. Snap up those tickets.

Mamma Mia! The Musical takes over Leeds Grand Theatre from Tuesday 16 to Saturday 27 June. The ABBA jukebox musical needs no introduction, and this touring production has two weeks at the Grand to prove why it’s still filling theatres more than 25 years on. A sun-drenched Greek island setting, a wedding-eve mystery and a wall-to-wall soundtrack that will have you on your feet well before the finale.

Brassed Off opens at Leeds Playhouse’s Quarry Theatre on Thursday 18 June and runs to 11 July. Thirty years after the film first struck a chord, Leeds Playhouse brings it back to the stage in a new production directed by Amy Leach, with live music from two real Yorkshire brass bands, Horbury Victoria and Wakefield Metropolitan, throughout the performance. 

Markets and community

LS6 Junk Yard Sale takes place on Sunday, 14 June at Left Bank Leeds on Cardigan Road. The popular junk and treasure market at the converted church has become one of the area’s best community events: independent traders, vintage finds, pre-loved clothes and the eclectic mix that Headingley does better than most postcodes in the city. Entry is free, but reserve your ticket online to guarantee entry.

Leeds Community Clothes Exchange’s last event before the July and August summer break is on Saturday, 27 June at Woodhouse Community Centre. Bring what you no longer wear, take what you can use, up to a maximum of 20 items. Entry is £4.50 per person; accompanying children go free.

Sports and activities

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup arrives at Headingley in June, and it’s one of the most exciting sporting events Leeds has hosted in a while. Five matches are scheduled at the ground across the tournament, with a full double-header on 17 June (Australia vs Bangladesh and Netherlands vs India), West Indies vs Scotland on 18 June, England vs Scotland on the evening of 20 June, and Australia vs Pakistan on 23 June. The England game is expected to sell out. Tickets start from just £5 for children and £15 for adults, making it one of the best-value sporting occasions in the city this summer. Get yours, or miss out.

Leeds 10K returns on Sunday, 14 June, starting outside Parkinson Steps, the University of Leeds. Founded by Jane Tomlinson as a fundraising vehicle, Run for All (as it’s otherwise known) has grown into one of the city’s most popular and inclusive sporting events. Whether you’re running, cheering from the sidelines or just catching the atmosphere in the city centre, it’s worth getting involved.

The Leeds Inflatable 5K takes place on Friday 20 June: a 5K run through an inflatable obstacle course, competitive enough to feel like a proper event and silly enough that pace doesn’t really matter. Good for groups, families, and people who find a 10K a bit much.

Also on Saturday 20 June, the Zipwire and Abseil at Elland Road takes participants up and over the stadium, with views across Leeds from the top that are worth the nerves. It’s £100 per activity (with fundraising options available), and proceeds help raise vital funds for the Leeds United Foundation.

Family fun

Family Fun Fest brings back the Black Lotus Artisan Market on Saturday, 20 and Sunday, 21 June, this time with more food stands and fairground rides. Expect fresh local flavours, artisan goods, sweet treats and the estate’s Rhododendron Walk and Laburnum Arches in full bloom: a beautiful way to spend a summer weekend with the kids.

The Big Wild Play Out is a free outdoor play event getting children into green spaces. On Saturday 6 June at Skelton Grange Environmental Centre, just two miles from the city centre, you’ll find meadows, ponds and woodlands ripe for exploring. There’s a café on site, or bring a picnic. Parking is free, too.