Shop by craft
Best of Leeds; search or filter for all 12
Leeds Corn Exchange, Call Lane, city centre
Opened in November 2012 as the first Leeds shop to focus specifically on design publications, Colours May Vary now trades from the Corn Exchange on Call Lane. It pairs its book and print stock with exhibitions and collaborations with working illustrators and designers.
Best for Design books, art prints and zines
Leeds / Online
UK bag-maker founded 2015 in East Keswick, Yorkshire, producing sustainable outdoor gear from 100% recycled polyester with bonded canvas construction.
Best for Everyday bags
Elliker was founded in 2015 in East Keswick, north of Leeds, England, and takes inspiration from the local Yorkshire landscape and British workwear heritage to create sustainable outdoor gear. All products are manufactured from 100% recycled polyester derived from plastic bottles, using ethical and sustainable production methods. The bags feature 600D recycled polyester with PU coating that repels rain, offering practical water-resistant performance. The product range includes backpacks, sling bags, and crossbody options designed for outdoor functionality and style. Elliker donates 1% of profits to The Wildlife Trusts, actively supporting local habitat development in Yorkshire. The brand has gained recognition on sustainable retail platforms and among outdoor enthusiasts seeking environmentally conscious gear without compromising durability or design.
Leeds / United Kingdom
Evergreen Gallery in the Leeds Corn Exchange shows ceramics and art glass by leading makers in the UK.
Best for Ceramics and art glass by UK makers
Leeds / United Kingdom
Flavour Like Fancy on Harrogate Road in Leeds carries homeware and art prints made by UK independents.
Best for Homeware and prints by UK makers
Leeds (workshop-based)
Maker Ian Atkinson has hand-stitched knife sheaths and pouches in Leeds since May 2009, taking the brand name Leodis from the city's old Roman-era name. His leatherworking tutorials have also built a YouTube following of over 250,000 subscribers alongside the bespoke commission work.
Best for Handmade leather knife sheaths and pouches
Railway Street, near the railway arches
Maude roasts under the railway arches on Railway Street, naming specific lots like Bukonzo Dream (Uganda) and Los Pasos (Colombia). It sells mainly bag-by-bag to Leeds cafés and home brewers.
Best for It sells mainly bag-by-bag to Leeds cafés and home brewers
Maude Coffee Roasters operates out of 82-83 Railway Street, Leeds, working from railway arches rather than a standalone shopfront -- a detail that shapes the roastery's identity as much as its coffee does. Rather than sourcing under generic country labels, the current lineup names specific lots: Cafe Delas from Brazil, Los Pasos from Colombia, Juba from Mexico, and Bukonzo Dream from Uganda, alongside a rotating Summit Collection that has included lots named Tegal, Echo, Java Blossom, Parabolic and Symbiosis. That level of naming -- tracing beans to specific farms and cooperatives rather than blended regional lots -- runs through the core range too, which includes the Foundation and Off-Piste blends and a House Decaf. The company, registered as Maude Ltd, sells primarily bag by bag to Leeds cafes and home brewers, supported by a subscription service with flexible frequency and a wholesale arm for other local businesses. It has stayed at this scale and this single railway-arch location for over a decade rather than expanding into multiple retail sites or a national chain, keeping its relationships with named farms and cooperatives at the center of the business rather than scaling past what that direct sourcing model can support.
Tong Road, Wortley (west Leeds), with a Coffee Hub at Leeds Dock
This B Corp-certified Leeds roaster runs impact projects in El Salvador, Rwanda and Timor-Leste and trains baristas through its North Star Academy. Current lots include Rwanda Cyato and Peru Churupampa Churupacha.
Best for B Corp-certified roaster running impact projects in El Salvador, Rwanda and Timor-Leste
North Star Coffee Roasters works out of a unit on Tong Road in west Leeds, sourcing green coffee from named origins that include Rwanda Cyato, Burundi Ryamukona (in both washed and natural lots), Peru's Finca Churupampa Churupacha, and Uganda Muki. The company holds B Corp certification, a third-party standard covering environmental and social performance rather than a marketing label, and backs it with named impact projects in El Salvador, Rwanda and Timor-Leste -- placing its sourcing relationships in specific coffee-growing regions rather than describing sustainability in the abstract. Training runs through North Star Academy, which teaches hands-on barista skills alongside the roastery's retail and wholesale operations, and the company also supplies home and office subscriptions with free shipping above £25. Among its current single-origin offerings is a Rwanda Cyato lot described as "Tropical Punch," a naturally processed coffee the roastery markets for a pronounced, fruit-forward "pineapple-like fizz" rather than a conventional balanced cup -- an unusual flavor claim for a roastery to put front and center. Between the B Corp certification, three named country-specific impact projects, and a dedicated training academy, North Star has built out more formal sustainability and education infrastructure than most single-location UK roasters of its size.
Leeds (studio-based, sold at Yorkshire markets)
Ollie Morris trained in patisserie at Leeds City College before turning a lockdown hobby into a chocolate business in 2021. Each bon bon is hand-decorated to order, with dairy-free lines made alongside bespoke wedding and corporate gift boxes.
Best for Hand-decorated artisan bon bons
Farsley, west Leeds
Established in 1829 as a woollen scribbling and fulling mill, Sunny Bank Mills produced fine worsted cloth for close to 180 years before weaving stopped in 2008. The site now houses around 100 independent businesses alongside a textile archive and gallery open to visitors.
Best for Heritage textile mill archive, gallery and independent shops
Farsley, Leeds, Yorkshire / United Kingdom
A destination showroom in a converted Yorkshire mill, with a booked listening lounge and hi-fi furniture built in-house.
Best for A destination showroom in a converted Yorkshire mill
The Spinning Room trades from Sunny Bank Mills, a former textile mill turned cultural hub in Farsley on Leeds' western edge, positioning itself as what founder Paul and his team call "a refreshing take on what a destination HiFi showroom can be." The stock runs the full two-channel chain — turntables, tonearms and cartridges, integrated and separate amplification, speakers and subwoofers, CD transports, DACs, streaming components, cabling and acoustic treatment — from brands including Pro-Ject, Technics, REL Acoustics, Ortofon, Quad and Hegel.
What distinguishes the shop beyond its catalogue is a dedicated listening lounge for booked demonstrations and a house sideline in handmade wooden audio furniture, built by the same team that sells the equipment it will sit under. That combination — an in-house cabinetmaking practice alongside the retail floor — is a genuine specialism rather than a marketing flourish, and it puts The Spinning Room closer to a craft workshop than to a chain electronics counter.
The shop frames its approach explicitly against high-pressure retail: hands-on expertise and personal guidance over a sales script, with demonstrations built around what a customer already owns or listens to rather than a fixed showroom playlist. For a city with no shortage of record shops selling turntables as an accessory to vinyl, The Spinning Room's combination of full-chain component depth, a purpose-built demo lounge and its own furniture workshop marks it as a dedicated hi-fi specialist in the fuller sense.
Farsley, west Leeds
Truman Books is an independent bookshop and café in Farsley, West Leeds, with books for adults and children. Owner Amanda Truman moved into bookselling after a career in travel, building a shop that also carries cards and gifts. Author events and children's activities add reasons to visit beyond choosing a book and stopping for coffee.
Best for Adult and children's books with a café in Farsley
Truman Books operates from 95 Town Street in Farsley, Leeds, describing itself as an "award-winning independent bookshop and cafe", combining adult and children's books, gifts and cards, and a coffee-and-cake counter under one roof. The book range runs across more than two dozen categories, from fiction split by hardback, paperback, crime/thriller and sci-fi/fantasy, to children's sections divided by age band (0-5, 5-8, 9-12), young adult, biography, history, poetry, science, travel and a dedicated Local Interest & Authors shelf. Beyond retail, the shop runs its own recurring programming: a Storytime and Young Readers' Review Panel for children, and Truman's Book Club Social for adults, alongside a partnership with the Farsley Lit Fest that ties the shop into the town's wider literary calendar. It also carries signed copies and special editions as a standing program rather than an occasional promotion. Closed Mondays, the shop keeps otherwise regular hours across the rest of the week, including a shorter Sunday slot. For a single-shop independent in a Leeds mill town, running a standing book club, a children's review panel and a literary festival partnership simultaneously is a more active programming slate than most comparably sized shops maintain.
Leeds / United Kingdom
Yellow Sunrise in the Central Arcade in Leeds keeps crystals and gemstones for collectors, along with home decor.
Best for Crystals for collectors, and home decor
Neighbourhood walks
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