Heartlines

So good to be three floors up
surrounded by pigeons
fingers flying through catalogue cards
nobody there in the hour before moonlight when everything
is possible
and the books whispering
in the quarto room
with leather-bound tongues.

Liz McPherson

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

We thought we were moving to Leeds,
then discovered we’d come to Yorkshire.
The diversity of landscape here is an unimagined spell:
coast, moorland, dale and fell,
etched by strolling rivers
beyond a vibrant city hub.

Today, walking an ancient bridleway,
roots and stones jagging underfoot like Yorkshire wit,
I watch summer dusk engulfing the trees above me
and a wash of soft light
rinsing the fields below.

Friends and family were aghast at our defection to the bumptious north
and even to us, it was just another stop
on the path of fledgling careers.
Never expected we’d stay for thirty-five years.

Barbara Lawton

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

babbling … you go down
into the lost city
there are secret squares
of olde worlde trees,
botanical gardens,
that exist in dreams only,
an alchemist’s shop,
a bustling market, where you
can buy truffles or star fruit;
and embedded in all the moons
above late-afternoon Mabgate –
a clock striking four-thirty…
it’s time for an extravaganza,
swing into a glittering ballroom,
full of mirrors and chandeliers,
the tall, dark waiters are waltzing
round a medley of tables,
and a drag queen in sugar-pink tulle
points you in the direction
of an escalator… you step onto
the ground floor at Allders,
customers in Fifties-style hats
head for bargain counters,
then out, through the double doors
an old man in Dortmund Square,
selling the Evening Po-aa-ss-t
falls off the cliff of his own voice …
you wake up startled, baulking
at your loss:
a city anchored, but sunk

Linda Marshall

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

Look up to where
The Grimshaw skylines
Sit above the coffee bars.
By the city station,
Venetian towers of catalogues and wool
Stand over the Aire as it pushes to Hull.
Take the slow canal west towards Liverpool,
To the mansion on the hill,
Where Gott housed his Caravaggios,
And countless brothers made square cuts,
Ran tries or scored goals
As proud grandfathers
Watched over Farmer Brown’s field;
The cobbles still run uphill
To the back-to-back Moorfields;
And the grand old school
(Where my education has since been rubbed out)
By the park where Charlie sold cakes.
Sunday morning still wakes
To the bells of Christ Church,
Now the tribes of Briggantes
And the Romans have gone,
But Leeds will continue to feed on the Aire
Springing forth from Malham’s cathedral Cove.

Howard Benn

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

Memories of a French 20 something, 1972

Motorway city of the Seventies.
That is what it said on the envelope.
So, I found out I would be off to Leeds,
And I wondered how I’d manage to cope.

But Yorkshire was friendly, I quickly found.
The skies were grey but the people called me love
When I bought some milk and gave them a pound.
In the bus queue never was there a shove.

No mountains to be seen but streets were steep.
The pudding was a food you ate with beef
Sundays were so quiet, all must be asleep.
Meals had odd name like “tea” and were very brief.

Forty years have gone and I am still here
Glad to call it home and send out a cheer.

Marie-Paule Sheard

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

I’m born into the Cockney tribe, known mostly for
Pearly Kings and Queens, rhyming slang,
and possibly dealing in things that fell off the back of a lorry.
As a family we have zero to do with the royals and not a lot of
contact with stolen goods. We do use phrases like give us a
butchers, frog and toad and me old china but that’s about it.

For six decades inner city London is my home
until I swap it for Leeds. It’s not so much culture shock
but the drop in temperature that affects me most. I arrive in
September and wear my coat, hat and scarf indoors for the
first autumn and winter. Amusing for some, no joke for me.

What I first enjoy about Leeds is how easy it is to
get about and you can get a cab home without having to
take out a loan. But I did and still do miss the Tube.
A rapid transport system wouldn’t go amiss
or even a train that turned up and went where it said
it was going would be nice. But maybe I’m asking too much.

I’ve since found that Leeds appreciates creativity and there’s
lots of opportunities to start projects, have an outlet for them
and find an audience willing to support them. It’s not a city
where only the rich are allowed to express themselves.

There’s a lively mix of free thinking, friendly residents,
including those who came as students and never left,
who help make life interesting and feel like a home.
I think I can say with some confidence it’s been a good move.

Jackie Parsons

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

They glare at each other
across the wide expanse
of Headingley Lane – two brick-armoured
behemoths ready to joust in defence
of pecuniary gain and student thirst.
Sturdy knights of alcohol, they will
contest the field of honour to the bitter
(or even lager) end – The Original Oak
and The Skyrack, each with their loyal
clientele, casting their nets wide
to haul in the stray fish of the uncommitted.
Their pennants flying in the field,
each one determined not to yield.

Bill Fitzsimons

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

Chapeltown 1955/56, a hive of ethnic diversity.
Jews, Irish, Poles and a scattering of others
dwelt in large Victorian terraced houses,
many of which had been converted into flats.
This was a whole world away from the life
I’d lived in Dublin, exotic and cosmopolitan.
In the flats where we lived, an Italian
lady resided in the basement and on the ground
floor a Hungarian man and his English wife.
My family lived on the first floor of what
the locals called Mulligan’s Mansion.
The sheer variety of the ethnic mix was
exhilarating — there were two synagogues,
a Catholic Church, a Kosher bakery
and a Polish club within striking distance.
We lived in this magical world for a year
or two until we were offered a council
house on the Miles Hill estate, but it could not
hold a candle to the exotic mixture
of cultures in Chapeltown.

Bill Fitzsimons

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection

Past blackened buildings
Telling another story
But this was the swinging 70’s
Or maybe not so swinging more swingeing.

The Headrow beckoned
Debenhams, Lewis’
Schofields
Littlewoods, Stead and Simpsons
Past Dolcis, Clark’s, Dunn & Co
Tobacco shops aplenty, Capstan and Players
Leeds Permanent Building Society
Dyson’ s Furs
The David Oluwale scandal bubbling underneath
Conveniently forgotten during the 80’s and 90’s

But
Change was afoot on the Headrow
The Town Hall had stolen a march
Now cleaned and gleaming
Its sandstone splendour breathtaking

But we were heading for the Ceylon Tea Rooms
Modern

Cool
Airy
And Leeds answer to the Rococo high faluttin glory
Of County Arcade’s Lyon’s Tea Room

But before we enter the doors
What about the people?
Young, old and everything in between
Of course, ‘old’ to me then was anyone over forty!
Transcending eras rubbed along sort of
Older women in smart suits, collars lined with real fur
And of course the ubiquitous head covering,
small hat or scarf
Men too,
cloth caps or Trilbies.

Younger people, teens anyone under forty, mini- skirts
maxi skirts, floral dresses
flowing skirts
Flowed for men too
Bell bottoms prevailed accompanied by robes of one sort or
another.
Hair long sideburns architectural arrangements
big hair.
All this and more

But here we were

At The Ceylon Tea Rooms
No exclusivity here
Airy, glass emporium
Tea chests from India
Lined the walls
Some open, some shut

No deep pile carpet
Shiny floors
Bright lights
No hushed voices

Posters of tea pickers
Enjoying their work
Menus stuffed with Empire Tea
Darjeeling
Gun Smoke
Earl Grey

And to eat
Quiche, Quiche and more Quiche
Change hovered
This was the new normal
For the way we were.

Myrna Moore

Back to Leeds Line by Line – Leeds Lit Fest 2026 collection