Leeds coffee guide: two roasters and a city of arcades

Laynes opened by Leeds train station in 2011 as an espresso bar, and two years later Krag and Hols founded North Star, which grew from a small roastery into a business with its own coffee shop at Leeds Dock, three sites in the city centre and a training academy. Maude roasts under the railway arches. Around them are independent coffee shops, from Kapow in a Victorian arcade to Stage opposite the infirmary, that buy from roasters across the North and beyond: Echelon from Leeds, Casa from Shipley, Cuppers Choice from Sheffield, Square Mile and Rish from London.

North Star Coffee Roasters, Leeds Dock and the city centre

North Star was founded in Leeds in 2013 by Krag, who was 22 and roasted every bean the business sold, and Hols, who had started in coffee studying the impact of Fairtrade on coffee communities in Kenya and later worked as a green buyer. The husband-and-wife business is a certified B Corp and a Buy Women Built business, and it runs long-term projects with producers in El Salvador, Rwanda and Timor-Leste. Marcelo Montanari in Brazil, one of its longest-standing producer partners, has worked with it since 2014, and its house blend, The Docks, has been roasted since 2013.

All the coffee is roasted by the team in Leeds. The coffee shop at Leeds Dock serves brunch, hand-brewed coffee and seasonal drinks, with bakes and bread made in-house, and welcomes children, dogs and walk-ins. In the city centre there is a kiosk a short walk from the station, another beneath the Victoria Quarter arcades, and a larger site that houses the main bakery and kitchen and the biggest shelf of retail coffee and brewing equipment. Each serves two coffees on espresso and a rotating batch brew. The North Star Academy runs home brewing courses, cuppings and barista training at the Coffee Hub at Leeds Dock.

Kapow Coffee, Thornton’s Arcade

Kapow fills “2 Floors of bean slinging goodness all tucked away in a victorian arcade”, in Thornton’s Arcade in the city centre. The house coffee on every espresso drink is a natural Yellow Bourbon from Brazil, the house decaf is a sugarcane-processed Colombian, and a short list of single origins rotates beside them: lately a washed Gesha from Colombia, a Kenyan AB from Mutungati and a Kickstart Natural from Ethiopia. Each coffee comes with the team’s own brewing recipe, and the house view on home brewing comes down to three words: “TASTE. IS. KING.”

Maude Coffee Roasters, under the railway arches

Maude roasts single origins and seasonal blends in small batches on a Probat P-12 at its roastery under the railway arches, and the door is open: “feel free to drop into the roastery for a brew - you’re always welcome!” The house blend, Foundation, is half a Brazilian natural grown entirely by women through the Café Delas programme and half a washed community lot from Huila and Tolima in Colombia, whose sales fund the Los Pasos project; it has built 11 bridges across 9 coffee-growing communities. Off-Piste is an experimental blend with changing components, and the Summit Collection holds rare lots, among them carbonic maceration Geishas from Finca Deborah in Panama. Maude coffee is poured across the city by wholesale partners such as the Climbing Lab bouldering gym in Kirkstall and the Left Bank arts space in Hyde Park.

Laynes, by Leeds train station

Laynes opened in 2011 with the aim of giving the city “a venue that paid absolute attention to the quality of just two ingredients, coffee and (possibly) milk”. It is still independent, and barista owned and run. The espresso bar has grown a kitchen known for breakfast and brunch, the pastries come from its own Laynes Bakery in Armley, and it now stays open into the evening with wines, beers and coffee cocktails. The coffee on sale for home is Red Brick, the seasonal espresso blend from Square Mile Coffee Roasters in London. Tables can be booked.

Stage Espresso & Brewbar, opposite Leeds General Infirmary

Stage has served coffee since 2017 from an 1860s corner building with tall arched windows, looking across to the Grade I listed hospital buildings of Leeds General Infirmary. Its single origins rotate through roasters from across the UK and beyond, on espresso and pour-over: lately a Brazilian Yellow Bourbon from Parallel in Glasgow on espresso, and a Kenyan peaberry from Outpost in Nottingham and a natural Guji from Rish in London on pour-over. Breakfast, lunch, focaccia and bakes are made in-house, there is a shelf of board games, dogs are welcome, and the shop hosts tasting events, among them James Hoffmann’s Fermentation Project in October 2026.

Coffee On The Crescent, Hyde Park

Coffee On The Crescent was opened by a former professional cricketer, who spent his downtime as a player seeking out independent coffee houses around the world and wanted “a calm, friendly, beautiful and inspirational place for people to meet, drink great coffee and feel uplifted”. The house espresso comes from Echelon, a Leeds roaster ten minutes’ walk from the shop, and the shelf carries North Star and Cuppers Choice coffees alongside loose-leaf teas from Hebden Tea in York. The shop sells work by local artists and makers, employs five full-time baristas on the real Living Wage, and in 2021 raised 3,000 pounds for the local food bank.

Rabbit Hole Coffee, Moortown and Otley

Rabbit Hole started in 2016 as an events trailer built from old doors and door frames from the original Tetley Brewery head office. A lockdown pop-up in Oakwood in 2020 made it a full-time business, a pop-up at Harvey Nichols in the Victoria Quarter planned for three months lasted three years, and the first shop opened in Moortown in July 2022, followed by Otley in September 2025. The house coffee, Emma 3.0, is a Red Bourbon from Emmanuel Rusatira and the smallholders around the Fugi washing station in Rwanda, roasted by Cuppers Choice in Sheffield.

Fika North, Far Headingley

Fika North takes its name from the Swedish word for a moment to slow down over coffee with friends. The house coffee is roasted by Casa Espresso in Shipley, near Bradford, the baristas choose a new single origin every few months for the La Marzocco, and batch brews change constantly, with guest roasters from across the UK. Made-to-order bagels, cakes and an ice cream machine in summer complete the menu, and a sister shop down the road, Bottle Chop, serves the same coffee with schiacciata sandwiches and natural wine.

What you need to know about Leeds specialty coffee

Which Leeds coffee roasters have their own cafés? North Star has a coffee shop at Leeds Dock and three sites in Leeds city centre. Maude welcomes visitors at its roastery under the railway arches.

Where is the coffee near Leeds train station? Laynes has been close to the station since 2011, and North Star runs a kiosk a short walk away.

Where can you buy coffee roasted in Leeds? North Star’s larger city-centre site has its biggest retail range, and its Leeds Dock coffee shop also sells beans. Coffee On The Crescent stocks Echelon and North Star, and Maude sells its own coffee from the roastery.

Where can you learn about coffee in Leeds? The North Star Academy runs home brewing courses, cuppings, latte art and professional barista training at its Coffee Hub at Leeds Dock, and Stage hosts coffee tasting events.

Are there independent coffee shops outside Leeds city centre? Coffee On The Crescent is in Hyde Park, Fika North in Far Headingley, and Rabbit Hole has shops in Moortown and in Otley.