Easter bank holiday: Things to do in Leeds

Embrace the freedom that bank holidays bring and enjoy a four-day weekend that's packed with springtime fun!

Here's our pick of the best Easter events across Leeds and beyond: 

Food and Drink

[Northern Monk]

Usher the bank holiday with the UK's first hop-led beer festival, Hop City. You'll be able to drink your way through beers from locals like Northern Monk, Zapato, Marble, Refectory Brew Co, Cloudwater and Magic Rock plus internatinoal breweries including Alchemist (Vermont, USA) and Stigbergets (Gothenburg, Sweden). ALL WITHOUT WORK THE NEXT DAY! Thu 13-Sat 15 Apr, Northern Monk Brew Co, times vary, £12

Partying

20/20 Vision Recordings head to Church with a pretty saucy lineup this Easter, letting you kick off the bank holiday good times with Soup Clap, Crazy P, Ralp Lawson and Kag Katumba. Thu 13 Apr, Church, 10pm, £14-£16

Mint kickstarts its Terrace Party series for 2017, starting with an Easter Sunday special house lineup that welcomes Kerri Chandler, Voyuer, Darius Syrossian, Route 94, Tobias, Black & Watky, Nghtwrk DJs and more. There's also a Hush Hush Easter special with John Digweed at Mint on Good Friday, too. Sun 16 Apr, Mint, 3pm, £17.50-£20

Music

[False Advertising, photo: Wes Foster]

Confession is a platform that champions local up-and-coming bands from across Yorkshire, and this Easter they welcome undisputed Skinny favourites False Advertising! They'll bejoined by Years Young and Carrion. Thu 13 Apr, Chapel, 7.30pm, £4

Celebrate the life, legacy and music of the almight Prince with Purple Rain, an evening that sees a full eight-piece live band deliver a set of the late musician's revered back catalogue. Sun 16 Apr, City Varieties, 7.30pm, £24.10-£27.10

Art and Crafts

Spring's here, finally! Celebrate exactly that at Inkwell Arts' Spring Festival, which will feature a local artist and craft fair along with live jazz performances and acoustic sets, henna painting and cake decorating, plus children's activities and arts and crafts. Sat 15 Apr, Inkwell Arts, 10am, free

Films

What better way to spend a bank holiday than curled up with a screening of cult favourite, The Princess Bride? You can do that thanks to the good bods at Hyde Park Picturehouse this Easter. Mon 17 Apr, Hyde Park Picturehouse, 6pm, £6-£7.50

That's actually part of the programming for Leeds Young Festival, the UK's largest family film event. The programme features everything from animation flicks to a VR spacewalk at Leeds City Museum, so be sure to give the programme a once-over. Mon 10-Thu 20 Apr, various venues, times and prices

Gaming

The UK's favourite celebration of gaming, Play Expo comes to Leeds for a day of video-gaming related antics including indie and modern games for PC, console and mobile, gaming tournaments, cosplay contents, retro console and computers, classic arcade machines, merch and lots more. Sun 16 Apr, Leeds United Football Club, 10am, £8-£32