Former El Gato Negro Site Re-opens As Luxury Sports And Gaming Venue

The cat is out of the bag! MHDL, the talented team behind popular restaurants El Gato Negro and Canto reveal plans to launch a second location for the group’s latest, interactive new venue concept, Black Cat Club.

Launching this September at the former El Gato Negro Leeds site on Park Row, the new venue blends the exciting feel of Black Cat Club’s immersive concept, with all new elements for the sports, music & entertainment lovers of Leeds to enjoy.

Black Cat Club Leeds brings the electrifying game of interactive shuffleboard and riveting fun of darts to the venue, plus hosting 9 screens (including a huge 98-inch mega screen) showing all live sports, complemented with luxurious interiors and soundtracked by live DJs every weekend. 

MHDL will be revealing a newly curated menu of crowd-pleasing dishes featuring fan favourites from Black Cat Club Manchester such as Buttermilk Chicken Bites with Curry mayonnaise, Salt and Pepper Ribs, Dirty Fries and its ever popular £10 Lunch Offer.

With next-generation gaming in one exhilarating space, the venue will also house a destination bar, fuelling guests with signature cocktails and a large variety of beers and wines as they play, watch and enjoy.  

For those who want to catch live sports on the biggest screen in town, guests can order ice-cold beers, signature cocktails and delicious food straight to their table, without missing a moment of the action. MHDL will be offering a premium sport viewing experience with table service on tap thanks to its exclusive “push for service” buttons!

Black Cat Club Leeds will also be hosting weekly events including a Monday night Quiz, Live Music on Thursday and Friday evenings, DJ takeovers on Saturdays and Sundays, plus showing all major sporting events including football, rugby, cricket, F1 & golf.

Black Cat Club Leeds will open its doors on 13th September 2024 and follows the successful launch of Black Cat Club Manchester in March 2024.

Simon Shaw from Mills Hill Development Limited said: 

“We are excited to reveal the second site of Black Cat Club in Leeds on Park Row. Thanks to the incredible success of our first Black Cat Club concept site which opened this March in Manchester, we’re ready to go again and bring this high energy and premium concept to Leeds. Black Cat Club strives to bring the community together through contemporary food, gaming and an unrivalled entertainment experience in luxurious settings, like no other.”

Black Cat Club Leeds is recruiting for all positions from management to runners. Please keep an eye out on the Black Cat Club website, socials and at site for more details. 

To be the first to hear about updates on Black Cat Club Leeds, sign up to mailing list here, follow @black.cat.clubs on Instagram or visit theblackcatclub.co.uk

MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover

Get ready for a summer adventure like no other as the streets of Leeds come alive with the world’s first city-wide MONOPOLY experience.

From July 27th to September 1st, the iconic family board game will take over the city, providing immersive gameplay for the whole family.

Free and family-friendly, the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover invites players to explore 22 key locations, solve puzzles, play mini-games and discover giant tokens scattered across eight themed zones. Grab a map and join the fun—it’s time to play MONOPOLY like never before.

The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover, brought to the city by LeedsBID and under license from Hasbro, a leading toy and game company, is a unique event celebrating Leeds’ rich gaming heritage while offering activities, entertainment and prizes for all ages.

Why Leeds?

Leeds was home to Waddingtons, Britain’s leading manufacturer of board games and playing cards. From the 1930s, Waddingtons produced the UK version of MONOPOLY and was responsible for the now famous London properties in the game. The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover pays homage to the city’s heritage and marks the place that has become synonymous with the iconic game.

“A key attribute of placemaking is honouring a place’s rich heritage, and this year, LeedsBID has looked at a new and innovative way of animating the city centre that does just that,” said Andrew Cooper, Chief Executive at LeedsBID. “MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover is the ultimate placemaking game, paying homage to the city where it was produced so many years ago, with local streets and landmarks represented as the board. In collaboration with key partners, we are providing a free, large-scale, family-friendly activity during school summer holidays to inspire people of all ages to come by and have fun exploring Leeds, while helping drive that essential economic impact for businesses.”

The Takeover

Combining key elements of the traditional game with the feel of a scavenger hunt, the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover will bring people on an adventure across the city centre. Key locations and landmarks across Leeds city centre will be featured as the board, with giant tokens, clues, games and puzzles around every corner for players to discover and solve.

The city centre will be mapped out like the MONOPOLY board and divided up into coloured zones – each with its own life-size MONOPOLY token housed in key retail locations. People can hunt down the battleship, boot, duck, iron, racing car, scottie dog, top hat and wheelbarrow[ST2] .

Like the board game, the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover includes real streets – a total of 22 across the city centre – in addition to incorporating key transport locations, such as Leeds City Station, Leeds Bus Station, Wellington Place Lifting Tower and Leeds Dock Water Taxi. The game’s utilities are also represented with photo opportunities like a floating tap and light bulb, along with a cell, where people can ‘Go to Jail.’

To participate, players can simply pick up a map of the city, which highlights the main game areas, and then choose how to play their own game, with numerous starting points, games to play and attractions to visit.

The overall challenge is to complete a series of puzzles on the back of the map as people work their way around the game, with clues hidden in plain sight across key locations. In addition, each property has a value, which can be added up to work out how much it will take to buy back the city.

Students from the Leeds Conservatoire, posing as characters inspired by the MONOPOLY tokens, will act as guides at each zone to help with the game, check puzzles and hand out stamps for correct answers.

There’s an assortment of prizes up for grabs at the Community Chest and Chance locations, as well as getaway prize packages at the red hotel found at The Junction.

MONOPOLY will continue its takeover of the city with additional activities, including weekend workshops in Waterstones, hosted by the Bank of England, and mathematical games for those visiting MathsCity, an interactive discovery centre in the heart of Leeds.

Who is involved?

Key partners working with LeedsBID in bringing the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover to the city include Child Friendly Leeds, Leeds Corn Exchange, Merrion Centre, Royal Armouries, St Johns Centre, The Light, Trinity Leeds, The Junction and Victoria Leeds.

Child Friendly Leeds was established with the ambition to make Leeds the best city to grow up in. LeedsBID has been on the forefront of making Leeds city centre a place to visit and have fun, while being inclusive for all children and families, especially during school holidays,” said Sadiya Salim, Partnership Development Coordinator at Child Friendly Leeds. “Capturing the views of 80,000 children and young people in the city, we launched the 12 wishes for Leeds. One of them being that ‘children, young people and families feel that there is better promotion and communication of fun and free things to do and places to go within the city.’ The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover is exactly that – and we want to ensure as many families as possible can experience this wonderful free event in the city.”

For nearly 90 years, MONOPOLY has been a timeless classic enjoyed by many generations, bringing friends and families together through its engaging, thrilling, and – sometimes even – emotionally driven gameplay,” said Matt Proulx, Senior Vice President, Global Experiences, Partnerships and Music at Hasbro. “The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover is sure to bring all of that to life through this free, immersive themed experience, and as we gear up for the brand’s milestone anniversary next year, fans can expect to see more fun, new brand offerings to celebrate the world’s favourite family board game.”

The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover comes to the city starting 27th July until 1st September. Find out more at MONOPOLYLeeds.com and across social media platforms @MONOPOLYLeeds.

Leeds International Festival of Ideas 2024

Leeds International Festival of Ideas (LIFI) is set to return to Leeds Playhouse this October, promising four days of engaging dialogue, profound connections, and boundless curiosity. With an exceptional lineup of worldwide speakers, performers, and thought leaders, LIFI24 promises to captivate and challenge attendees with its diverse topics.

From October 2nd to 5th, LIFI will delve into pressing issues spanning addiction, artificial intelligence, care, neurodiversity, and the impact of reality TV on our perception of reality. This year's festival aims to spark dynamic conversations and foster meaningful connections among participants.

Among the luminaries headlining LIFI24 are esteemed figures from various fields, including journalism, entertainment, science, and technology. Notable names scheduled to grace the festival stages include Kate Adie, Stacey Dooley, Kate Garraway, Goldie, Paterson Joseph, Nile Rodgers, Rebecca Lucy Taylor aka Self Esteem, Tim Spector, Carol Vorderman, Matt Willis and many more. 

Joining the festival this year as keynotes and fireside chats are the brilliant Nile Rodgers and BEKA, who’ll lead a dynamic conversation on the evolution of creativity, where the rhythm of music never ceases. Kate Adie (Former BBC chief news correspondent) and Stacey Dooley (who recently hosted the BAFTA’s) will delve into the intricate realm of conflict reporting and the portrayal of war. Tim Spector (Scientific Co-Founder of Zoe) and Dr. Amir Khan (GP and bestselling author) will unravel the mysteries of gut health and nutrition, offering insights into optimal well-being. Grace Beverley will grace us with her expertise as an entrepreneur and influencer during the lunchtime discussion, exploring the nuances of the creator economy. And lastly, brace yourselves as Carol Vorderman and Rebecca Lucy Taylor, also known as Self Esteem, fearlessly confront archaic portrayals of women in the media, sparking a dialogue on whether the media needs to step up and evolve.

The panel chats this year are the strongest the festival has had. Get ready for an engaging lineup as Matt Willis from the pop-punk band Busted and Lauren Windle, an esteemed author and journalist and more as they tackle the topic of addiction. Delve into the realm of AI with Georgie Barrat, host of Gadget Show, along with NHS Digital's Dr. Nisha Sharma and the talented actor Paterson Joseph, who brings a sceptical yet insightful perspective. Professor Tim Wilson (The Circle) joins forces with Rylan (X Factor, Big Brother) alongside Charlotte Armitage, an expert on the duty of care for production companies, to explore the impact of reality TV on our perception of reality. Discover the diverse facets of neurodiversity with Ellie Middleton, an impassioned activist, Christine McGuiness, a model, and Tumi Sotire, founder of The Black Dyspraxic, in what promises to be a highlight of the discussion as they discuss “We’re all neurodiverse aren’t we?”. And ponder the question of care with Kate Garraway as she leads a conversation with Goldie, a renowned music producer, and Lizzy Oma, an advocate for cohousing, about who steps in when basic human needs are left unmet due to illness, age, disability, or poverty.

Attendees can expect thought-provoking insights, lively debates, and innovative perspectives as experts and thought leaders delve into these pressing issues. 

Don’t miss the chance to be a part of the conversation. The Leeds International Festival of Ideas takes place at Leeds Playhouse from October 2nd to 5th. Tickets will be available on 10th May, and fans are encouraged to visit leedsintfest.com to sign up for the latest news and ticket updates.