Kirkstall, Leeds: A Local's Guide
A 12th-century abbey, a riverside beer garden run by the local brewery and Europe's biggest video arcade, all within a mile: Kirkstall, explained.
By Only Leeds Editorial
Kirkstall is where Leeds keeps its best ruin, its best riverside beer garden and, improbably, the biggest video arcade in Europe. The suburb sits west of the city centre along the River Aire, and a good day here means Kirkstall Abbey, a pint at the Kirkstall Bridge Inn and as much or as little else as you like.
Kirkstall Abbey
Cistercian monks founded Kirkstall Abbey in 1152, and it is Grade I listed and one of the best-preserved Cistercian monasteries in the country. It is now a Give What You Can site, with a suggested £5 per person at the Tap to Give point when you arrive. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm from October to March and 10am to 4.30pm from April to September, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. Mondays are closed, but bank holidays run as normal. In high winds the ruins can shut while the visitor centre and cafe stay open, so on a blowy day check the Leeds Museums and Galleries page first. Bring a picnic: the lawns around the ruins are made for it.
Abbey House Museum
Next to the abbey on Abbey Walk, Abbey House Museum has recreated Victorian streets, complete with a drinking house and a pawnbroker, plus a Childhood Gallery where the penny slot machines still work. Adults are £7.35, children aged 3 to 18 are £3.60 and a family ticket is £16.25, bought on site, with discounts for LeedsCard holders. It opens Tuesday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday noon to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm, and it is closed on Mondays.
Getting there
Buses 33, 34 and 757 from Leeds stop outside the abbey. Kirkstall Forge and Headingley stations are both about a mile away. If you drive, there is a large free car park on Abbey Walk next to Abbey House Museum, with disabled spaces.
Pubs
Kirkstall Bridge Inn, at 12 Bridge Road, was Kirkstall Brewery's first pub and used to be the Old Bridge Inn. It sits right on the Aire with a big riverside beer garden, and inside is a re-created Victorian pub covered in old brewery signs. The beer is mostly Kirkstall's own: Three Swords, Dissolution IPA, Black Band Porter. Food runs from noon every day, the Sunday roast is the order, and the Wednesday quiz fills up, so book. A Canal and River Trust list once put it in the country's top ten waterside pubs, and on a summer evening you will not argue.
Back towards town, Dave's Pies and Ales at 350 Kirkstall Road in Burley is a micropub doing pies from chilli to stilton, with mushy peas and gravy, alongside real ale and craft beer. It is exactly as good an idea as it sounds.
Where to eat
Mog's Cafe, at 55 Kirkstall Lane, is the breakfast stop: order the Turkish breakfast for a spread of sweet and savoury plates, or a full English if you know what you like. In the evening it does burgers, homemade specials such as lasagne, and cocktails. Melodie 71, at 71 Commercial Road, is a cafe by day and a cocktail bar by night, with margaritas made to your chosen heat level and Asian small plates from Hoi Polloi Street Kitchen; the Korean fried chicken is the one. Jodhpur, at 352-354 Kirkstall Road, is a popular Indian restaurant, so book, then order the tandoori mix platter, Laal Maas and pani puri. For a proper chippy tea, Kirkstall Fisheries on Morris Lane does fish and chips with curry sauce, gravy or mushy peas.
Arcade Club
Arcade Club, on Abbey Retail Park off Savins Mill Way, has more than 300 retro and modern games across several floors and bills itself as the biggest video arcade in Europe. Entry includes unlimited play, which is dangerous information, and there is a bar with craft beer and an American-style menu. It is a good rainy-day plan and a better one for anyone who peaked at Street Fighter.
Outdoors
Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve, on Redcote Lane, was built on the site of an old power station and is now wildflower meadow and woodland, with kingfishers if you are patient. Hollybush Conservation Centre on Broad Lane has been run by volunteers for more than 40 years, with gardens to wander and a cafe for a cuppa. Kirkstall Leisure Centre on Kirkstall Lane has a 25-metre pool if the weather is not on your side.
A good Kirkstall day
Turkish breakfast at Mog's, a morning at the abbey and Abbey House Museum, a stroll through the nature reserve, then the riverside garden at the Kirkstall Bridge Inn for the afternoon. Dinner at Jodhpur, and if anyone still has energy, an hour at Arcade Club. The full Leeds-List Kirkstall roundup has a few more.
