Xscape Yorkshire is in a great location, just off the M62 in Castleford. It's a great place for…read moreleisure activities or to grab a bite to eat. There are many things to do here, which would certainly be suitable for families, adventure seekers, cinema lovers and co, including Tenpin bowling, a Cineworld Cinema. There is also a gym and rock climbing area. For food and drink, you're also tempted by a wide array of brands including Nando's, Ask Italian and Pizza Express. There is also a Starbucks here, although it didn't look too welcoming. It felt so uncomfortable that they openly admitted they did not trust customers to have food items in the fridges, and kept them all in the back - I totally understand loss prevention but I've never seen any Starbucks locations do this other than this one. The car park is HUGE, it felt way too big, but I'm sure due to the varied things to do and eat here, it can get quite busy, especially in such a peak location, being right off the motorway it makes it easily accessible through all points of the country. PRO TIP: If you're going on a longer journey, make this a stop off to get a bite to eat or something to drink, you have a selection of brands and you're not paying the high prices of motorway service stations. There is a small selection of shops here too, but nothing too special, this isn't really a place you'd come to shop. There's a sporting goods store and a WHSmith Travel location as I could recall, that's pretty much it. 4* - I like this place, it's pretty cool and certainly a good spot for a family day out.

Good shopping/recreational centre but very expensive. Fun for all the family. The 4D golf was a bit…read morerubbish.

No town would be complete (or would it?) without a local arcade to watch the hours fly by and loose…read morea few pence here, try and figure out the system of a fruit machine there. These quite dark and mysterious looking places remind me of 'adult shops, as the fronts are all covered up, is this so wives cannot see where their husbands have escaped to? A small local business, not like the Teddy's Amusements that populate almost every small and large city, is a very busy popular place.

Me and my friends came on a school trip. A very fun experience. You can choose your own names for…read morethe bowling. We had some interesting ones.

Worst experience ever. I booked a visit 4 days ahead, and arrived on time. When I arrived I was…read moretold my lane was delayed so for compensation I could get the games I had come for as soon as a lane became free and could get some vouchers for extra games at another date. With 10 minutes we were placed on a lane. 20 minutes later my family and I were told we had to leave as they had double booked us and they were delayed. I was offered a refund. My sons birthday was ruined and after driving for 3 hours to get there as this was the only hollywood bowl with space to book on a Saturday. My 11 year son was so disappointed and was left embarrassed that I had asked family members to travel so far to be removed from the activities through no fault of my own. This was an awful experience and I would NEVER RECOMMEND anyone booking a visit here.

This was such a fun spot. You walk in and the walls are covered with art painted in blacklight…read morepaint, everything is covered and there's so much to look at. They have a large bar in the center and the drinks are all inspired by video games and characters and many of them come in very fun glasses or with extras like a glowing ice cube. You can also buy tokens for the games at the bar and most games take 1-2 tokens per person. They also have old console games that you can play as long as you'd like. This was so much fun, we played SSX Tricky and some other games and we could have spent hours enjoying these while drinking. At one point my husband took some sort of survey online and we ended up with a cup of tokens for free, which was really cool. We had already spent all of the tokens we bought, so we revisited a bunch of games and ended up beating the Simpsons game. This would be a great date night spot or place to come to celebrate a birthday or hang out with a group of friends. I will say, the women's restroom looked really cool and was also painted in blacklight paint (Grogu was on the wall- too cute), but when I visited only one of the stalls had a toilet paper dispenser installed and it was empty. The other stalls looked like the dispensers were ripped from the walls, only one of the restrooms had an almost empty roll of toilet paper sitting behind the toilet and happend to have a hole in the stall leading to the one next to it. I don't know if it was the blacklight lighting or what, but it was a little creepy. We told one of the bartenders, but I made it a point not to go back to the restroom again- ladies maybe go in a group and scope out the TP situation before choosing a stall. Everything else was great though and so much fun. If they take care of the women's restroom better it'd be a five star experience easily.

There are rumours that Jared, owner of OK Comics, hatched from an egg from atop a volcano. I cannot…read moreconfirm this, but I can say that a world without OK Comics would be a a world without joy. Everything a comic book lover needs is nestled in this cosy little store. Downstairs you have the latest releases (as I like to call it, the Wednesday Wall) plus back issues from some of the bigger publishers. You also have graphic novels, trades, and manga - often some of it at a discounted price. - perfect for people just getting into comics. Upstairs is like a comic museum. 50p back issues in classic cardboard boxes and even more trades to whet your whistle. This is a great place if you're looking for that one issue to complete a story arc. Back to Jared and co. The staff are some of the friendliest and most knowledgeable that you could ever come across. I've been in other comic book stores around the country (and world) and very few can compare to the awesomess of the OK staff. If you're a comic book fan, get your fleshy behind to OK Comics. If your interest in comics has been piqued by recent box office smashes, then let your legs escort you to OK. Is that enough gushing? You want something negative? Ok, well, I heard that at the stroke of midnight the comics in the store come alive and contribute to 60% of the grafitti in the city centre.

OK comics is a valuable addition to the independent shops in Thornton's arcade, providing a broad…read moremix of genres from the predictable sci-fi to a hardback Moomin book nestled in the window. The shop has a clean, light feel and is tidy and organised enabling enjoyable browsing through their many high quality comics and unusual books. The staff are friendly and welcoming, even if, like me, you are a bit clueless about the world of comics, having ventured in there looking for a present for my dad! This is a shop with a real sense of identity adding to the buzzing scene of quirky shops in Leeds'city centre, and having won the Leeds Guide retail legend award, it clearly offers a quality range of products and offers excellent customer service.

The best thing about this soft play centre is the woman who owns it - she is so friendly and…read morecommitted and endlessly patient and kind to all the babies and toddlers that come in. So much so that the damp problem in the bottom room and toilets doesn't matter so much. I like it because I can take my 3 children who span a range of ages and all are happy - which is a rare find. There is no time limit on going, which does mean you tend to find some mums are there ages.

I have visted childsplay on a number of occasions and have always had a great time with my 2 year…read moreold and his cousin. Great place to stop for a coffee and a quick bite to eat while the kids play. I always supervise my own kids but other parents do not, as with all places you get this. It is small but very friendly and worth a visit.

ONE STAR TOO MANY!…read more Disclaimer, review original from Google Reviews submitted by myself. Appalling customer service, of 3 people I spoke with I was presented with confrontational and unprofessional behaviour. After having placed an order and not being delivery within the specified timescale of 5-7 days after order completion email I decided to contact Mary Shortle. On first contact a gentleman answered. He was completely unable to assist me, he advised that he did not deal with orders or delivery's and to contact Stephanie another day. Having spoken with Stephanie the next day, she tried to explain that my order had not been fulfilled due to choice of eye colour, however I was never provided a choice of eye colour until the moment I called to complain that I had not received my order. To add to this point, there was no option to select and the product did not state I would be provided an option. This for me came across as an excuse that my order had been overlooked. A simple apology would have sufficed. Unfortunately I felt Stephanie came across confrontational, her best effort to correct the situation was by encouraging me to accept a refund after having been informed it was an intended birthday gift. I declined the refund yet made Stephanie aware of my concerns. I reiterated the item was intended to be a birthday gift and that time was of the essence. Stephanie stated that she could dispatch my order for a reborn with brown eyes or I would have to continue to wait for them to send one with blue eyes. (Again I was not presented an option, nobody called. I wouldn't have known if it was supposed to have blue or brown eyes, her point was irrelevant.) Anyhow, I agreed with Stephanie to discuss eye colour with the birthday girl and call her in 5 minutes. 5 minutes later I called back and spoke to another person to confirm that eye colour posed no issue and to dispatch the item available. She informed me that within those 5 minutes Stephanie took it upon herself to contact their office and cancel my order. My experience has been far from acceptable or professional. I still do not have a product or a solution. Thank you Stephanie, you broke a 8 year olds heart today. RESPONSE TO OWNER REPLY I appreciate your response reply on Google, it's unfortunate you weren't forthcoming with your communication skills during my order experience. ##### RESPONSE FROM OWNER#### Thank you Aaron for your review we were expecting this after the despicable behaviour from yourself, and threatening promises towards our staff and business. We do not accept any kind of threatening behaviour verbally or on emails and therefore felt it was in everybody's best interest to refund your order. Contrary to emails received from you today stating you will be placing more orders, We will not be fulfilling any orders placed by yourself or associates on our website. We would not want our beautiful handmade dolls to witness or suffer such behaviour of what you intended to do with the doll if received. Thank you ###### Despicable behaviour, please future customers, allow me to outline that what is being described as despicable. I called for an update, I outlined that they hadn't fulfilled my order within timescale, when I was presented with excuses I outlined my disappointment. There was no threatening behaviour, I can only imagine my threatening behaviour was by replying to the refund confirmation email that I intended to leave a review based on my experience. You had refunded my order prior to any email correspondence. I did state that it is my intention to make another purchase as I have an 8 year old child whose birthday is up and coming who should not have her hopes ruined by an oversight. Please outline what you believe my intentions are, that seems more of an accusation. It is to my belief, Mary Shortle is displaying discriminative behaviour. My conscious is clear. My intentions are to buy a birthday gift. Shame on you Mary Shortle

Mary Shortle has two shops in close proximity in Queen's Arcade...one is packed to the rafters with…read moreteddies and the other is even more chocca with all things dolly. First the teddies...upon entering the shop I was immediately struck by the height of the displays and the way the teddies seemed to loom down on me from all angles. I guess this just comes down to crafty display skills, as for a small shop there is an awful lot of teddy. There are a variety of teddies and soft toys to suit a range of tastes, from Beatrix Potter, Noddy and Paddington to scruffy vintage-style bears to an adorable zebra with soft, rounded features. They also sell a range of gifts mainly aimed at kids. The doll shop is an experience. Among so many dolls, one can't help but be drawn to the creepiest of all...the dolls whose faces are hand painted to include broken veins and dry skin and whose faces are creased into realistic expressions of laughter or grimaces. I wouldn't be surprised if they had been implanted with real human hair follicles. These are the kind of dolls that lonely American women push around in prams and buy designer outfits for. They actually do. I just don't know how to react to these dolls...so I walk away and head toward the back of the shop. A treat of tiny proportions awaits! Several large cabinets contain a huge stock of dolls house accessories, carefully displayed in life-like scenarios - with clutter on tables and ornaments on mantelpieces, tiny families of dolls sit down to dine on miniscule platters of sandwiches and cakes. I have visions of becoming a geeky dolls-house addict, painstakingly whittling individual dolly-noodles out of wood...again I have to step away. Though having a range of prices, some of the dolls are unexpectedly very expensive so be sure to check price tags before becoming attached to a particular dolly! If doll-shopping, there is probably something in here to suit every taste and young children would be in heaven! But warning: anyone who gets creeped out by dolls in the slightest - approach with caution!

It's so weird when you wander in somewhere, somewhere you've never been, and have a sense of déja…read morevu. As soon as I descended the stairs to 1st bowl I felt as though I'd been there before, which I haven't, but perhaps it was the feeling of stepping back into childhood. The last time I'd been bowling was when I was 14, and it looks like bowling alleys haven't changed a bit since. Or perhaps it was the Peep Show episode that made it seem familiar? Regardless, if you've not been in a while, you still know what to expect. The counter comes first, to pay for your lanes and games, and hand in your shoes. It's a simple exchange, and the staff are very friendly. For two games it cost £8 for two, which is really extremely cheap for over two hours of good solid fun. (Well, that depends if you enjoy bowling.) We had a big group of us, for a birthday outing, and it was fantastic. The alleys are grand, the system is easy, and it's all as simple as that. I did my best to channel Jesus from Lebowski, but alas, I wasn't good. I managed a couple of strikes, and a few spares, but then made up for that with several 0 scores. What is it with my arm bowling to the left? Damn it! It also brought out an uncontrollable competitive edge. Why this came out with bowling I've no idea! Anyway, I love it, and I want to go again. As for the other amenities, there's a bar, a place to order various fried goods, and a ton of arcade games. The bar serves up very standard, if below par drinks. (Depending on your tastes.) The most exotic beers are Guinness and creamflow Worthingtons, and there's a range of WKDs and VKs. That's the kind of boozing had here. As for the food, I didn't dare risk a hot dog for a quid, so had some breaded mushrooms and chips. The mushrooms I regretted, as they really didn't sit well. Very greasy, and not delicious, but edible if you're starving. The other games are good, but could have been better. With a tempting range of Mario Kart, some FPS games, air hockey, American pool, and various others, it's packed with potential fun for an evening. However, only managed to get air hockey to work. (Mario wouldn't accept any coins, and Time-something-or-other glitched half way through.) We also saw someone try out the 'hurricane' machine, which looked more like a light blow dry. But the air hockey I loved. Probably because I won! In summary, I like it. I liked it because bowling is loads of fun, and the staff were grand. I didn't love it because the food and booze is below par, and some of the games we tried didn't work. However, I'd definitely come back. So, it's a straight middle ground 3 out of 5. Anyone want to go bowling?!

Bowling is well fun! I am totally crap at it. But still, it's a good laugh…read more Leeds Bowl has been the location of a few of my friends birthday celebrations and lightened the mood of more than a few friends on low days. With 26 lanes, a full bar and diner and a few large American pool tables they have everything you need for an evening of silly uplifting entertainment. Take a good mate who you know you can have a laugh with, and you should have a great time. Prices are really good compared to the bowling alleys in my hometown at £5.15 each per game. £10.20 for two games. Or £2.50 for your third game if you are still eager to bowl. They also have a family offer of £7.50 for 90 mins which will keep the little ones happy for a while at least. There's always a day when you need some kind of cheering up. Leeds Bowl is the place to do it.