Coffee · Leeds
Seven Leeds cafés where the coffee comes first
This guide names the Leeds cafés run for the coffee, says what to drink and eat at each, and gives a price from each café’s own menu.
An espresso is £3 at Laynes, a two-minute walk from Leeds station, and the beans are usually Square Mile’s Red Brick. Laynes opened in 2011, and the Good Food Guide calls it a pillar of the city’s independent scene, so this guide starts there and works outwards: the city centre first, then the dock, then the suburbs to the north.
How we chose: independent Leeds cafés named by the Good Food Guide or two local guides, each priced from its own current menu.
City centre
Laynes Espresso
Laynes bakes everything on its counter itself, so have a croissant (£3.15) or a cinnamon knot (£3.90) with a batch brew at £3.40, which changes often. Kitchen dishes stop at 3pm on weekdays. There’s no laptop use at weekends.
New Station Street, by the station · espresso £3 · walk-in, bookings taken
Stage Espresso & Brewbar
Stage has poured independent coffee on Great George Street since 2017 and rotates its roasters; this month’s espresso is a washed Brazil from Parallel in Glasgow. Ask for it as a flat white, and eat the Stage-shuka, two eggs baked in spiced tomato with house focaccia, at £9.95.
Great George Street · Stage-shuka £9.95 · closed Sun · walk-in
Olive & Rye
In Queens Arcade off Briggate, Olive & Rye pours Dark Woods coffee, roasted in Slaithwaite near Huddersfield, at £4.50 for a flat white. Breakfast runs all day; the full one comes with crispy pork belly and black pudding at £14.75.
Queens Arcade · flat white £4.50 · open daily · book or walk-in
Leeds Dock
North Star Coffee Shop
Take the yellow water taxi from Granary Wharf to reach North Star’s café on the Boulevard, where the coffee comes from the company’s own roastery in Armley. It shuts at about 3pm. Order the slow scrambled eggs, the dish the Good Food Guide names as the standout.
The Boulevard, Leeds Dock · prices not published · walk-in
Nova Bakehouse
Sarah Lemanski opened Nova next door to North Star in 2019, and you can watch the bakers shaping dough while you wait. Buy a sourdough loaf any day but Wednesday, when there isn’t one, and a jar of Yorkshire rhubarb jam at £7 for home. Dogs are welcome.
The Boulevard, Leeds Dock · rhubarb jam £7 · closed Mon–Tue · walk-in
North of the centre
Coffee on the Crescent
Tim Linley, a former professional cricketer, runs this Hyde Park café, and it sells its beans by the bag as well as by the cup. The current house espresso is Echelon’s Tanzania at £12.95 a bag, so try it as a cortado before buying.
The Crescent, Hyde Park · house espresso beans £12.95 · open daily · walk-in
House of Koko
On Harrogate Road in Chapel Allerton, Koko charges £3.60 for a flat white and has heated terraces for sitting outside in October. The plate to order is the Turkish eggs at £12.95.
Harrogate Road, Chapel Allerton · flat white £3.60 · open daily · book
Checked October 2026.
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