To be honest, I haven't visited Leeds for nealy fifteen years. In what ways has it changed since then?

You are right about sleepy Perpignan. All the fun in that area is at nearby Canet Plage or across the border in Spain.(45 minutes drive from Perpignan centre).

Toulouse on the other hand has everything but beaches in the city proper. Any British rugby league fan who visits Toulouse should come away convinced that having Toulouse Olympique in Super League would be great for the competition and great for the traveling British fans.

Wow, where to start. Well I would say Leeds was getting left behind considerably compared to Manchester Liverpool Newcastle Birmingham London etc going back 10 years or so.

In that time 2 huge shopping centres have been built, trinity Leeds (general shops, restaurants, upmarket cinema and street food eateries) and for your more affluent customer, Victoria gate, some very nice places there, a huge John Lewis and a new plush state of the art casino too.

Leeds finally has an Arena too where the mainstream bands can play or classic legends like depeche mode can bellow out their hits and box office comedian Ricky Gervais can give everyone a lecture on trans people. Leeds has also held sports personality of the year and now home to numerous boxing bouts mainly driven by local hero Joshua Warrington.

Gone are most of the grimey outdated nightclubs and there's more of an emphasis on bars and particular parts of town. Do some shuffleboard and sink some brew dog.

In a big group for team building or a smaller group then why not try an escape room? Too scared, don't worry, numerous crazy golf courses now or the craze of beer pong or upmarket bowling alleys.

Sounds expensive? Well fear not, there's still the Duncan , general Elliot, 3 legs and horse and trumpet if you like a bit of rough and a cheaper pint.

A massively improved city.

Sounds interesting, curious about the post removed now

He probably typed "I don't like you Jean"

Jeez have you not been to leeds since 1995, leeds has all that going in for more than the last 10 years, leeds changed massively since kate 90’s

Jean hasn't been to Leeds in 15 years. I am from Leeds and worked in Leeds city centre 2011-2018.

Prior to 2013 Leeds didn't have trinity, Victoria gate, an arena, an escape rooms, boxing hadn't happened in the city for years and Leeds wouldn't have been likely to host sports personality of the year. So no, Leeds hasn't had all that going for it in more than 10 years.

You're welcome.

Leeds also the highest rate of knife crime outside London

Not anymore. Manchester has overtaken.

Wow, you have just spiked a memory. with the GE.
[iNow[/i, you are talking a top class hole..... But sometimes holes are a bit more interesting and entertaining than your regular run of the mill.
Had been propping the Novotel hotel bar up, day and night for all of the 23rd and 24th of December imbibing large vodka and fresh oranges.
A young Russian barmaid had been keeping me company and we'd been making each other chuckle, wiling past the hours. She was a good kid because she took it upon herself to only charge me for every other glass she slid across the bar to me.


Woke up Xmas morning and I'm showered, downstairs and back on my perch at the bar at 10am.
Had 3 or 4 pints and thinking, I've gotta make the effort to move/ find another boozer.
Walks down the canal towards the centre and it's proper p!ss!ng down and place is an absolute ghost town, deserted. I just remember the flashing of the traffic lights in the drizzle and not a soul in sight.
Walks round in circles for half an hour looking for any sign of life and finally there's some bloke across the road, stood at a doorway, puffing on a fag.
'Is that a boozer mate?' I shouts across the street to him.
'Yes mate,' comes the reply.
Result I'm thinking.


Have had the experience once or twice before, but rarely, and I'm thinking, fook me, what have I just walked into here.


Place is rammed, blokes only, sat in big groups round tables.
Put my head down, undaunted, and weaved my way to the bar and ordered a bitter.... Managed to find a stool in the corner near the window as far out of the way as I could get!
2 or 3 pints later I'm heading back to my stool and one of about eight blokes sat around the nearest table shouts over to me, 'are you a cod'ead'?
Now it's hardly rocket science seeing as I'm sporting the three crowns on my Hull FC kagool.
'Yes mate' I fires straight back.
'What u doing in here?' he asks.
'Just fancied a change of scenery' I replied.
'You best come and join us then' he replies.









Well I was still in there at 10pm after they'd regaled stories of their obvious criminal activities interspersed with tales of their time spent in Hull, Full Sutton and Armley prisons.


Fair play to them, they got me a cab back to my hotel when I made my excuses for departure.
It was a fairly enjoyable Xmas day and the Russian barmaid was smiling at me as I wandered back into the hotel bar with only the slightest of wobbles on.

Don't know how much truth there was in this, but it was certainly a good read

Amazing stuff





Sounds a perfect Christmas!!!

Back on topic.

In response to the original post: yes, visiting Toulouse is a great experience for an Englishman.

Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case my be, its gospel.
The lads told me to come round the back of the pub ion Boxing day.
Said they would be open from 10am starting in a room upstairs before they went down to the bar a bit later.
I never made it on the strength I was still up till 4 in the morning boozing with the Russian, a male barman from Murcia in Spain and a very cute Cuban young lady who was on reception.

Given you're neither French, a resident of Toulouse nor English, I fail to see how you are qualified to comment?

How do you know, aren't you French (or should that be, you aren't French)

I am not British but I have many British friends, many of them English and a few others Welsh. So I have empathy for the British people, especially the English. I know what Englishmen like, and Toulouse offers that in bucket loads.

2 Pints of Lager and packet of Crisps please Bruce

I now have so many different ways that Nigel Wood breaks a coffee table running through my head.

My favourite is during a game of twister with Angela Powers.

I feel a little bit sick and yet slightly intrigued

I saw Woods a few weeks ago he appeared to have been shedding a bit of timber still looked a huge mess and in my personal opinion the worlds most useless oaf but for some reason the RFL love him thats why he gets all the good gigs and the money

It wasn't Tom Watson was it!