I have a rare day off this week so being the masochist that I am, I will forgo the German Market here in Leeds and come and see yours. Is it any good this year? I remember when they had a forlorn one down in Centenary square a few years back. It sort of evaporated most of the christmas cheer I had just visiting it.

I believe it is now on Darley Street so that it can expand to fill the limited space available.

Sack that off and try the Record Cafe on North Parade. I've not been yet and want to know what it's like.

Don't know much about the German Market, planning a visit later this week. The Record Cafe is awesome and is well worth a visit.

just two problems with that. I don't know what the record cafe is or which Road is North parade.

North Parade is where The Sparrow is. That's all the information you need.

The last Bradford Xmas market we tried truly was dire. Worst thing I've ever been to, and I include root canal treatments.

OTOH Clayton Dickensian market (which I think is this weekend) was just the job, a fine and compact bustling mix of interesting stalls and varied grub, surrounded by pubs and clubs.

A market is for life, not just for Christmas.

Is it vaguely near the city gent? I went to brighouse christmas market at the weekend for a slow trudge past fudge. What I like is that potent combo of too many people, painfully crawling past stalls of things you don't want.

Can you interest me in a taster of your cheese? Yes please! Do I want to choose three nuggets of it for £10? No I'm ok ta.

I went to the one in Leeds last week. It's pretty pathetic and I've no idea why they've bothered. Go to the Manchester one.

Just another example of the small provincial city/large town of Leeds not competing with it's more important neighbours like Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham etc.

It is not and never will be a major city. Despite what the inhabitants like to believe. It hasn't even got trams.

They should get Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen to organise it, that Xmas wonderland thing sounds a right laugh. Wonder if they will be doing reindeer burgers?

Not sure that upmarket stuff would cut the mustard in down to earth Yorkshire..

Well the attraction of the Leeds one is based almost entirely on the fact that I can just about see it from where I'm typing now.

Leeds is a provincial city with utter delusions of grandeur. It is a consumerist nirvana but I think the actual inhabitants aren't all that well catered for. For a start there's no ice rink housed in a 1960s hellhole of a building, and that's basically a pre-requisite for any major city in my book.