Last edit by: Globaliser

Ladies and Gentleman, having been born and grown up in Leeds, and as a proud FT member and contributor to the BA board, it gives me great pleasure to invite you to the Flyertalk Leeds Do on 23 September 2017. Leeds is the third largest city in the UK, and the cultural, financial, and commercial heart of Yorkshire. Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBA) to London Heathrow is one of the newer routes on the BA network having started in December 2012.
Previous Leeds Do
Held on 18 April 2015
Held on 6 December 2013
Attendee List - Confirmed
KARFA
angeloedades
Gastrocnemius
Cymro
BLHD
BLHD +1
rapidex
rapidex + 1
PETER01
Sherwood Hampton
atmorris
S_W_S
tomparskate
Tobias-UK
The Lady Tobias
pjh981
Ikaz
Mrs Ikaz
PJSMITH0
tjeuk
Tiffywren
toothy
Fontana
LPQ
LPQ + 1
Ldnn1
hcuk94
gwarke
WickedStepMother (Saturday drinks only)
GadgetGal (Friday only)
Attendee List - Potentials
JamieABZ
sebanto2001
madfish
OldFruity
MHendo84
psollitt
Jamier45
navylad
Party trains, planes
Friday 22nd September
Saturday 23rd September (*attending the CCR Mini-PreDo Brunch)
BA1340 0755-0855 Cymro (regretting the early start and hoping for some flexibility)
BA1342 1400-1505 Tobias-UK*, The Lady Tobias*,pjh981*, tomparskate*, angeloedades*, PJSMITH0*,TravellerFrequently** +1** (*crashing the CCR Do only.


Sunday 24th September (*attending the CCR Mini-PostDo Dinner)
BA1343 1430-1540 Tobias-UK*, The Lady Tobias*,tomparskate*, angeloedades, PJSMITH0*, KARFA*, pjh981, Tiffywren,* gwarke,* Cymro
Date, Time, & Venue
Friday 22 September 2017
→Informal evening gathering for anyone arriving on Friday.
Saturday 23rd September 2017
→Things to do in Leeds if you are around during the daytime
Lots of details of things to do posted here.
→Evening Do
1800-2015 Pre-dinner drinks - SkyLounge bar at DoubleTree hotel, see this post for details
2030 Dinner at 8.30pm at Sukhothai http://sukhothai.co.uk/restaurants/leeds-city-centre/
2230 Post dinner drinks
Sunday 24th September
→Plan for Sunday morning
Hotels
Doubletree
KARFA 22/9-24/9
Tobias-UK & The Lady Tobais 23/9-24/9
Tomparskate 23/9-24/9
kwisstan +1 22/9-24/9
PJSMITH023/9-24/9
Gastrocnemius 23/9-24/9
Tiffywren 22/9-24/9
WickedStepMother 23/9-25/9
GadgetGal 22/9-23/9
Hilton
PETER01
There are various hotel options in the city centre, including Radisson Blu, Hilton, Novotel, Doubletree (formerly Mint), Park Plaza, The Met, and Malmaison. Also The Chambers Park Place which seems to be fairly new and has quite a few positive reviews on tripadvisor. These ones are all pretty central and will be near where we are going out to (wherever that will be).
Crowne Plaza, Travelodge, Jurys Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Premier Inn Leeds City Centre, Ibis, and Bewleys are outside the city centre. These ones may be a bit less convenient. The Queens hotel whilst central is really not recommended.
Despite the wording the Premier Inn Leeds City Centre is not in the city centre, and is out near the Holiday Inn. The Premier Inn Leeds City Centre Leeds Arena and Leeds City Centre (Whitehall Road) are closer to the city centre. However, city centre Premier Inns are often not very cheap on a Saturday night so I don't think they will offer much in the way of savings.
Personally I quite like the Doubletree and a few had a night there at the last Leeds Do. Have a look at tripadvisor for reviews and photos. As always check the price of the hotel separately to see what works out best. Hopefully there is enough to cater for any budget or loyalty program.
Also see this review by BotB on the Doubletree.
Airport
There are three daily BA rotations from LHR to LBA on Friday and Sunday, and two on Saturday;
Friday
LHR-LBA, LBA-LHR
BA1340 0755-0855, BA1341 0930-1045
BA1342 1245-1350, BA1343 1430-1540
BA1344 1730-1835, BA1345 1910-2020
Saturday
LHR-LBA, LBA-LHR
BA1340 0755-0855, BA1341 0930-1045
BA1342 1400-1505, BA1343 1540-1650
Sunday
LHR-LBA, LBA-LHR
BA1340 0755-0855, BA1341 0930-1045
BA1342 1245-1350, BA1343 1430-1540
BA1344 1730-1835, BA1345 1910-2020
To/From Airport
There is a 757 Bus Service that is every 20 minutes during the day, or every 30 minutes in the late evening. It takes around 35 minutes to get to the city centre and costs 3.80 for a single. Timetable here.
- If you are staying at the Holiday Inn Express the 757 goes along the main road right outisde (Kirkstall Road). Get off at the stop just past the fire station next door.
- If you are in the Doubletree/Hilton/Novotel then get off the 757 at Park Row (the bus turns right on to Park Row after passing the law courts and town hall). The stop is at the east side of city square. To go back to LBA on the bus you can get the 757 from stop S7 from right outside the station entrance (New Station Street). Some directions for the Doubletree and Hilton are below.
Alternatively, the only official private cab company at LBA is Arrow which you can pre-book, or book when you arrive at LBA. To use the taxi service head out of the terminal builidng and across to the marked up taxi "hut". You then book and pay for the taxi inside and then head outside to the specific taxi which you are booked on. The cost for LBA-city centre is likely to be around 22. Hopefully we can do a bit of coordination if people are arriving at LBA to share cabs.
There is no train service at LBA.
Rail
Leeds has one main railway station right in the centre of the city. There are plenty of trains run by East Coast to London Kings Cross, with one every 30 minutes usually. Journey time is around 2hrs 30 mins from London, and advanced tickets can be had for 13 each way. There are also direct services to Leeds from York, further north from Scotland, and from most other major cities in the UK either by Cross Country trains or TransPennine Express.
- If you are staying at the Holiday Inn Express then the best way is just to get a taxi - it is a short taxi ride and shouldn't cost more than 6. For the taxi rank at the station walk to the entrance/exit straight ahead after passing the ticket barriers, and it is across the road.
- For access to the Doubletree there is now a new entrance at Leeds station which leads directly down to Granary Wharf.
City Centre
Leeds city centre is fairly compact, and we are not likely to wander too far, so once you get here you can usually walk most places with 15 minutes at most. Alternatively, there are plenty of taxis at the rail station taxi rank, or at other taxi ranks scattered around the city centre. The Leeds Hackney cabs are black and white.
If you have any question about the Leeds Do please feel free to send me (KARFA) a PM.
.
The FT Leeds Do - 23 September 2017
#1
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 41,749
The FT Leeds Do - 23 September 2017
Well here we go again, another Leeds Do. It will be on Saturday 23 September
Format is to be decided, but the evening Do will involve a few drinks, and food at some point.
Also there will be some daytime events. Again I am just floating these as ideas, but the things that I think might be good are:
Lots of information will go in the wiki soon. Hope you can come along.
Format is to be decided, but the evening Do will involve a few drinks, and food at some point.
Also there will be some daytime events. Again I am just floating these as ideas, but the things that I think might be good are:
- Afternoon walking around Leeds (perhaps a tour done by Leeds Civic Trust) - inspired by the walking tour at the Paris Do.
- Trip over to Rochdale to go to the fixed based 737 simulator and Vulcan simulator I go to. I was thinking maybe if a few people want to go up I am happy to arrange a group trip over there for a few hours as a day event. It is about 1 hour drive from Leeds City centre. The simulator is this one Flightdeck Experience. As well as the 737 cockpit the guy who owns it has built a cabin as well with 12 seats. You can see photos on the website. You actually get a simulated view from the windows as well. It makes it good for group outings and you can sit in the cabin for the time you are not flying in the cockpit. The reviews on tripadvisor are good as well. The person who owns it is a friend of mine and I am sure he would do us a good deal for a 2-3 hour session.
Lots of information will go in the wiki soon. Hope you can come along.
Last edited by KARFA; Mar 27, 17 at 6:57 am
#2
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 41,749
Saturday Daytime- Things to do in Leeds for those not coming to the simulator
Visit Leeds website - http://www.visitleeds.co.uk/
Maps - http://www.visitleeds.co.uk/essentia...ownloads.aspx#
Map of city centre [pdf] - http://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publi...ntre%20Map.pdf
City centre:
Outside the city centre:
If you need any directions or advice how to get to any of these places please feel free to send me a PM.
Visit Leeds website - http://www.visitleeds.co.uk/
Maps - http://www.visitleeds.co.uk/essentia...ownloads.aspx#
Map of city centre [pdf] - http://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publi...ntre%20Map.pdf
City centre:
- Leeds Art Gallery – http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandga...t-Gallery.aspx, on The Headrow near the Town Hall, open 10am - 5pm, free to visit
- Henry Moore Institute – http://www.henry-moore.org/hmi on The Headrow near the Town Hall, open 11am - 5.30pm
There is currently an exhibition outside the Art Gallery, it is the Britain from the Air photos http://www.leeds.gov.uk/Events/Pages...m-the-air.aspx
- Leeds Museum - http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandga...ty-Museum.aspx, behind the Town Hall on Millennium Square, open 11am - 5pm, free to visit
- Leeds Town Hall - http://www.leeds.gov.uk/townhall/Pages/default.aspx, designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, unfortunately no tours this Saturday but you can admire it from the outside at least
- Corn Exchange - http://www.leedscornexchange.co.uk/, also designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, now a shopping arcade inside, inspired by the Bourse de Commerce in Paris
- Leeds Markets - http://www.leedsmarkets.co.uk/
- Victoria Quarter - http://www.v-q.co.uk/, indoor shopping galleries, even if shopping isn’t your thing go and have a look since they ar probably better than anywhere else in the UK, see this post for photos http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23738542-post629.html
- Whitelocks - http://www.whitelocksleeds.com/ oldest public house in Leeds dating from 1715
- Royal Armouries - http://www.royalarmouries.org/leeds, open 10am-5pm, free to visit
- Leeds Minster - http://www.leedsminster.org/
Outside the city centre:
- Armley Mills http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandga...mleymills.aspx
- Kirkstall Abbey & Abbey House Museum http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandga...all-Abbey.aspx http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandga...se-Museum.aspx
- Thackray Medical Museum http://www.thackraymedicalmuseum.co.uk/
- Roundhay Park & Tropical World - bus no. 12/98/99 will take you there and bring you back in to town, about 4 miles outside the city centre in the north eastern suburbs http://www.leeds.gov.uk/leisure/Page...dhay-Park.aspx http://www.roundhaypark.org.uk/index.html
- Temple Newsam http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandga...le-Newsam.aspx
- Lotherton Hall http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandga...rton-Hall.aspx
- Harewood House http://harewood.org/
If you need any directions or advice how to get to any of these places please feel free to send me a PM.
Last edited by KARFA; Mar 27, 17 at 7:51 am