Talk to me about Granary Wharf, Leeds

[NoChanceYouMetalBastard]

First "break" since husband had his strokes in January this year. He is somewhat disabled and very limited with walking, cognition and sight. We are staying at the Double Tree Hilton by the canal. He has always loved canals and narrow boats so thought it might be a good reintroduction for him to breaks away - we used to do about 10-15 a year.

What is nearby? He loves live music - but he cannot walk far. I know the Hop is close in. What else? Can we realistically spend the full 2 days by the canal or will we have to venture into the city?

Any advice much appreciated. xx

Nobody? Literally nobody lives in Leeds?!

How are you getting to Leeds? If by train take the south entrance as it takes you right out into granary wharf.

Personally, I don’t think you could do 2 days just on the canal, but the city centre is really close by (and thinking about it, it might be even quicker to cut through the train station)

Restaurant wise, I’d recommend Livin Italy and Fazenda which are both in granary wharf. If you like Indian food, Bundobust is lovely and not far from your hotel.

I hope you have a lovely stay.

We are coming by train :)

If you can, I'd recommend branching out and going further into Leeds.
I'm from there, but not been there to enjoy the social stuff for a long time. But Granary Wharf used to be amazing, an underground kind of Souk-like shopping place known as the Dark Arches with a rushing former mill goit thundering down the middle and fenced off with chicken wire.
Sorry, as that's been gone for a long time.
The area is now mostly taken up with modern-residential, and some student places, as far as I know.

There are plenty of music options and (I hope) still gigs in the pubs. There used to be free live music in the lobby and/or bars at lunchtime in The Playhouse theatre which was a nice chilled thing to do. The Grove was a good place for folk music. Hope someone with more recent knowledge will help.

Excellent. I personally don’t think it’s the easiest exit to find as it’s upstairs (walk towards platform 15/16/17 and you’ll see the barriers before the stairs/lift to get onto the platforms). The station has multiple lifts and lifts down to granary wharf so hopefully that will help.

We have been to Leeds at least a millions times before. But, never since he had the strokes in January and it is a very different thing now. Last time we came, I fell asleep in Revs De Cuba I was so pissed and we had to bribe an Uber driver to take us home 😂

This is very different. I thought we could just have a chilled couple of days by the canal, which he loves.

Thank you 😊

I joined a Live Music fb group and have heard that The Grove is the place, so thank you.

Yes, it has all kinds of styles to offer, although would be a taxi ride if there's something you fancy.
Hope there is plenty that's accessible. I confess, do remember it as a place where there's a fair bit of walking, although that's in contrast to where I now live which is a less densely built up town centre.

The grove is fab! A dying breed of old-style real ale pubs with live music. If you're wanting something f a little less rustic, then your hotel has a sky bar - lovely views of the city. As has already been mentioned, livin Italy and Fazenda are both great restaurants. Some cool little bars if you venture to The Calls too - the Midnight Bell is a good one. Have a lovely time.

The Midnight Bell isn't on The Calls, it's on Water Lane, just at the other side of the river and a conduit.

Kind of behind the Midnight Bell there's a lovely tapas restaurant called Bomba in a little square and there's a few industrial heritage bits and pieces to look at. But I think the square is cobbled which DH might struggle with? And it might be too far away. Plus there could be steps etc, I'm not sure what accessibility is like in the area.

It's quite hard to advise without knowing what he is able to do. My dad had a stroke, used a walker in the house but realistically he only went out in a wheelchair.

There's a water taxi that goes along the river to the Royal Armouries but I've never been and expect he might not be able to get on and off a boat?

If you can go as far as city square, it's recently been done up with a sculpture thing installed. However there might be still works in the area,not sure, but a lot of pedestrian routes have diversions that add considerably to the length.

You could get the train to somewhere where there is access to the canal but there's probably a lot of steps, steep ramps and cobbles, a taxi might be easier, if you go to Calverley Bridge just off the ring road, you could ask a taxi driver to drop you off right by the canal and there's usually a few boats moored there, a lot of swans on the canal and a little cafe called the Tiny teapot. But obviously that's going to cost quite a bit if you want a driver to take you there and wait or come back for you.

I think you may get a little bored just staying by the canal in Leeds but as you are so close to the train station you could get a train to saltaire. The station is right on the canal, Roberts Park and Salts Mill are easily accessible, you can do a canal trip there too.

Leeds born and bred here.

Granary Wharf has been nicely redeveloped and has some good restaurants but I think you'd struggle to spend two days there. The rest of the city centre isn't too far away though and you can get buses from there.

You can also take the water taxi to the Royal Armouries from Granary Wharf and go along the river.

If you’re looking for a nice meal nearby, Tharavadu is an excellent South Indian restaurant - it’s pretty much opposite the train station. Would definitely be a nice way to spend a long lunch or evening.