Hyde Park Survival Guide - Best places to go in Hyde Park!

22/11/2011

Renting student property in Hyde Park is a joyous experience; I know first-hand, having spent over a year kipping on a dirty mattress in a freezing cold basement flat. I came to know the area very well, and that's why I'm sharing with you my top 10 places to go:

1. In summer, Woodhouse Moor is the place to socialise, sunbathe, play footy, or chuck around a frisbee. Student property in Hyde Park is cheap, but moreover, it's only a stone's throw away from the best place to enjoy your summer.

2. Hyde Park isn't short of pubs. There's The Hyde Park, The Royal Park, The Library, The Pack Horse, and The Eldon. Did someone say pub crawl?

3. One of the coolest advantages of renting student property in Hyde Park is having the Hyde Park Picture House, the premier art-house cinema in Leeds, on Brudenell Road. It's always good to have a monument of culture in the area.

4. Hyde Park boasts a number of unique café like the Moroccan Oranaise Café Coffee Mania, and Completely Wonderful. Perfect for pre-lecture caffeine and post-lecture discussion.

5. For an all-round good time, it doesn't get much better than The Brudenell Social Club. Generally considered one of the best music venues in Leeds, it hosts many gigs and small festivals over a range of genres. As the name suggests, it is more than just a music venue, with a room with a big screen for showing films, and a games room for pinball and hustling your mates at pool.

6. If you're into skateboarding, BMXing, or roller-blading, the skate park on Woodhouse Moor will become your new home away from home.

7. Sick of the market dominance of Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, and Sainsbury? Fight the power by checking out Abu Bakar Supermarket, Hyde Park's alternative grocery shopping destination. You can find all the usual goodies there, and also some oddball things you might like to throw into the mixing bowl.

8. Leeds is a great biking city, and Bikology Cycles is the place in Hyde Park to get your foot from the pavement to the pedal. Living in student property in Hyde Park allows for great access to Leeds hotspots. Go one way for a couple of minutes and you're in Headingley, go the other way for five minutes and you're in the city centre.

9. Zara's Café Bar and Indian Restaurant is where it's at if you want authentic Indian takeaway. You don't have to be drunk to enjoy this!

10. Sunday morning at Popina's is the beating heart of the Leeds student community, as dozens of bleary-eyed miscreants slurp back coffee and chase it down with a fry-up in the tried and tested hangover-curing ritual.

Don't listen to the naysayers! Hyde Park is a cheap place to live close to the city centre and to the University. Good amenities, lots of other students; I liked it, you probably will too.

Written by Tom