Leeds Vintage

We jumped onto the train this weekend to Leeds to see what what was on offer at The Light-Vintage Fashion Fair, and decided to take, what should have been a trip down memory lane to Granary Wharf, and it's subterranean craft and independent stores deep under the city.... Gone!!! Well, it's been at least 15 years since I last visited Leeds City Centre and as they say, time and new-car-park-development-opportunities wait for no-one :)

However, time appeared to have stood still in the basement of Vintage Pick & Mix, just opposite the Corn Exhcange

Where the bar/shop was filled out with racks of shirts, skirts, teenagers and trench coats - appropriately sound tracked with The Smiths 'I know it's over'. Maybe progress in the form of an inner city parking lot is not such a bad thing?!

A needed break found us at the A Nation of Shopkeepers , great little bar with some nice food if you find yourself near the city art gallery. A couple of Mojito's later, and getting post cocktail munchies - we set off in search for a decent ice-cream vendor, preferably serving the super-processed Mr Whippy variety of ice cream!

On the way, we found this little gem of a place:

Swiss Cottage Antiques, slightly on the outskirts of the city (we were well off the beaten track by then) but jammed with really interesting items (quite a few theatrical artefacts as well as domestic furnishings) packed into around six large rooms. The photos don't do it justice, and we'll certainly head out that way again in the car and have a good rummage around.

So, all in all not the most productive of vintage shopping trips, but had a couple of nice surprise finds on the way.