Home Restaurant
HOME, Kirkgate, Leeds, UK
Okay so this is not somewhere you would eat every week, but for it’s first couple of years I managed to eat there every month. I’ve never known a restaurant this good change it’s menu so regularly, it’s sister in Leeds markets, The Owl, is no slouch either. Everything Liz Cottam does is just perfect and I can’t wait to try the newly opened Cora. Thai Aroy Dee and Pizza Fella cater to my more regular foodie urges and for years I lived above The Reliance so that place is kind of in my veins.
Leeds Art Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds, UK
As an actor I have a lot of time on my hands, so this is where I go when it rains. It has an extraordinary range of paintings and the big re-hang a couple of years back has really shown them off. There’s a painting on the back wall by Walter Sickert that regularly haunts my dreams and nightmares. Did you know it has an Art Lending Library? For a few quid a month you can borrow stuff from their collection (probably not the Sickert mind).
Grand Theatre and City Varieties
leeds grand theatre
When the first lockdown hit my fridge was covered in tickets from these two theatres. Gems they are and should be seen to be believed, but what goes on inside them is what inspires me. Ute Lemper giving a one woman show as Marlene Dietrich anyone? Opera North, Northern Ballet, Guys and Dolls, Rocky Horror, oh and all the kids I know have been going to the Varieties fabulous Rock and Roll pantos forever.
Brudenell Social Club
Brudenell Social Club, Queen's Road, Burley, Leeds, UK
Do places like this exist anywhere else? An old fashioned social club, serving the finest ales known to humanity, with two live music rooms attached. I don’t know anyone into their music who doesn’t fall in love with the place on first encounter. This is the place I missed most in the pandemic.
Canals and Waterways
The Wharf, Neville St, Leeds LS1 4AZ, UK
I’m from Birmingham and you can’t grow up there without being infected with the industrial beauty of our canal system. Happily Leeds has them in abundance along with some of the most remarkable industrial mills and towers I’ve ever known. The dark arches are still mysterious and thrilling (“yeah we’re putting the train station on top of the waterways, it’ll be reet!”).
I came to Leeds for Emmerdale over 17 years ago and it beats every other city I’ve lived in hands down.
Home Restaurant
Okay so this is not somewhere you would eat every week, but for it’s first couple of years I managed to eat there every month. I’ve never known a restaurant this good change it’s menu so regularly, it’s sister in Leeds markets, The Owl, is no slouch either. Everything Liz Cottam does is just perfect and I can’t wait to try the newly opened Cora. Thai Aroy Dee and Pizza Fella cater to my more regular foodie urges and for years I lived above The Reliance so that place is kind of in my veins.
Leeds Art Gallery
As an actor I have a lot of time on my hands, so this is where I go when it rains. It has an extraordinary range of paintings and the big re-hang a couple of years back has really shown them off. There’s a painting on the back wall by Walter Sickert that regularly haunts my dreams and nightmares. Did you know it has an Art Lending Library? For a few quid a month you can borrow stuff from their collection (probably not the Sickert mind).
Grand Theatre and City Varieties
When the first lockdown hit my fridge was covered in tickets from these two theatres. Gems they are and should be seen to be believed, but what goes on inside them is what inspires me. Ute Lemper giving a one woman show as Marlene Dietrich anyone? Opera North, Northern Ballet, Guys and Dolls, Rocky Horror, oh and all the kids I know have been going to the Varieties fabulous Rock and Roll pantos forever.
Brudenell Social Club
Do places like this exist anywhere else? An old fashioned social club, serving the finest ales known to humanity, with two live music rooms attached. I don’t know anyone into their music who doesn’t fall in love with the place on first encounter. This is the place I missed most in the pandemic.
Canals and Waterways
I’m from Birmingham and you can’t grow up there without being infected with the industrial beauty of our canal system. Happily Leeds has them in abundance along with some of the most remarkable industrial mills and towers I’ve ever known. The dark arches are still mysterious and thrilling (“yeah we’re putting the train station on top of the waterways, it’ll be reet!”).