A city break that has it all
9:51am Saturday 9th July 2011 in Leisure By Andrew Greaves
AS a staunch Lancashire lad, I have to have a good excuse to cross the Pennines into Yorkshire.
Visiting friends is one of those good excuses and a recent trip served as a gentle reminder what a great city break destination Leeds is.
From stylish shopping and fine dining, to contemporary arts and a vibrant nightlife, Leeds has it all with the added advantage of being under an hour away by car.
For me, the stunning shopping arcades in the graceful and lavish Victoria Quarter are among the best in the country and the shops that line up inside them offer a wider choice than many High Streets.
A stroll around the compact city centre is neither tiring nor tiresome and the friendly nature of the Yorkshire folk never fails to raise a smile.
An afternoon visit to the Royal Armouries museum allowed me to indulge my passion of the past.
Housing the national collection of arms and armour — a whopping 75,000 objects no less! — it is a stunning museum which allows one to wonder at the fabulous arms and armour of the Japanese shoguns, the royal houses of Europe and the kings of England.
Other options for culture vultures is Leeds Art Gallery with its stunning collection of 20th century British art, which The Times describes as the biggest outside of London, and Leeds City Museum.
Those wanting to go further afield could go one better than us and jump into the car to Wakefield, around nine miles away, and visit the new The Hepworth Wakefield, which houses a collection of almost 50 works by renowned sculptor Barbara Hepworth. Other works include those by Henry Moore, LS Lowry and David Hockney.
We stayed at the handily placed Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is situated just a short and pleasant stroll from the city centre.
As you would expect from a Crowne Plaza, the décor is stylish and modern with the odd traditional touch which is classy without being dated.
We ate at the hotel’s restaurant and were pleasantly blown away by the quality and presentation, something which is sadly lacking in most bigname hotels.
The menu would probably be described by marketing executives as “modern fusion”
but don’t let that fool you, there is nothing pretentious or small about the portions.
Suitably fed for a night on the town, we took a short taxi ride to meet friends in the studentheavy Headingley area.
With its mixture of bars catering for all alcoholic and musical tastes comes a mixture of clientele which encompasses the whole age range from freshers in their first years through to wrinkly rockers who have failed to leave the good old days behind.
We enjoyed some live soul and funk music with a cocktail or three at Citrus before heading down the road to Arcadia, a real ale Mecca.
A great night’s sleep was followed by a hearty hotel breakfast before heading back into Leeds for another stroll through the streets in the sunshine.
It may not have the buzz that London and Manchester serves up but for an altogether more relaxing city break, Leeds has everything you need.
