The Saviles Hall is in the Clarence Dock area of Leeds, a rather curious spot with the odd bit of…read moreretail, a few grandiose looking restaurants, plenty of flats and The Royal Armouries within one space. It's an odd location in some senses - you get the impression that once it was built, and everything still looks really rather spanking new, that they assumed folks would flock there to shop and whatnot, but in my few experiences here it's often been really quite quiet. Perhaps it's the nightmare of navigating the Leeds one way system via car, or the slightly out of the way canal-side walk (which is rather pleasant) that puts people off. In any case, that's where she stands. I visited there today, my first ever visit, to attend the Thought Bubble convention -a wondrously magnificent collection of all this graphic, comic and hand penned, for the truly geeky (and some might say, enlightened). For myself, being part-geek, this was an awesome place to spend a few hours, perambulating the large space in search of something special. The trouble is, with such a convention as this, everything catches your eye... I rather needed the Yelp of the graphic novel world to help me navigate which stalls I should stop at, but there you go. I managed to unearth a few gems, needless to say. Other than this event, the Saviles seems to be the place for Christmas dos, Weddings and all manner of other large scale events -the hall itself being gargantuan. I'm sure in the ceiling there were lighting rigs too. Other than that, I've not much to report, except that the refreshment stall was out-of-this-world expensive -£1.70 odd for a bottle of pepsi. No ta. I'll wait. In any case, I'd keep an eye on their programme of events as despite the slightly ghost-town atmosphere nearby, it's not a bad place to be. Plus the canal side wander is pretty lovely -especially in the mist as was today.

What a stunning venue this place is! I've been to a few events here now, most notably was the Spice…read moreYorkshire Speakeasy evening that was held in the main bar/dining area & then an evening in the company of Mrs Barbara Nice (that's Barbara as in Streisand, Nice as in the biscuit!) held in the 'living room' area - although they took out all the comfy sofas & replaced them with massive round tables n chairs! The building, an old gentleman's club (not of the lap dancing variety...) is steeped in history and still has pretty much all of the original features to it. A major talking point is the men's toilets believe it or not, which even still has all of the old block wooden toilet seats & a shoe polishing point in the corner. By all standards I think the cost for hiring a part of the club for a function is pretty reasonable, and they can also cater for your event based on your budget but don't expect a lot of food for the money here. The prices on the bar itself are actually (surprisingly) on the cheap side - all the times I've been in they've had a couple of drinks offers available so I only ended up paying around £2.50 a pint! They do some of their own individual events here so I would definitely suggest checking it out sometime. You won't be disappointed with the venue space.

A good few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an event at Temple Works, and to be honest my…read morevisit here has been long overdue. I've constantly been hearing good things about the space, seen snippets of local cultural veterans' work being performed here, and in general have been told that it's not only a lovely historical building but somewhat of a hub for arts goings on in the fine city of Leeds. So, when presented with a flyer for an underground (almost literally, it felt, once inside) poetic do, I was compelled to attend. Of course, my review of the actual space kind of ends here, besides describing what the slightly crumbling bricks and dusty mortar were like. Even so, the building that the event was held in may have been like an unfinished basement akin to many a house I've been in Hyde Park, it was still the perfect venue for a group of poets, performers, thinkers and contemplaters to meet and showcase. There's something indescribably cool about going to an event, especially one such as it was, in a low-roofed, rustic and intimate building. Something about the urban decay made it feel infinitely more personal, secret and cool to be in, whilst listening to the wordy creations of some fellow Leeds writers. Whilst access to the entirety of this Grade I listed building may be limited, due to health and safety, such innovative and unique events continue to flourish here injecting a real boost into the local cultural scene. Check their up and coming events for more goings on!