LeedsFurs Meets
📸: @atomsite
About LeedsFurs
The first Leeds Meet took place on 28 April 2001 as part of the Northernfurs meet rotation.
Since then, we’ve run over 150 meets, hosted by venues across the city. Our home for the last few years has been Lazy Lounge, which affords convenient access to the train station and a separate fursuit changing area.
Main Meet
Third Saturday of every month, 12:00
Lazy Lounge, West Point, Wellington St, Leeds LS1 4JY
Our main event! LeedsFurs meets take place in Lazy Lounge – an independent bar located only a few minutes away from Leeds Train Station.
Fursuiting
Our fursuit facilities are located next door to Lazy Lounge in the bar’s sister venue, Leeds Postal Service.
The fursuit walk usually occurs around 2pm – although, as with anything outdoors in Yorkshire, it’s weather-dependent.
Venue Amenities
A range of soft and alcoholic drinks, as well as a wide choice of food items are available to purchase at the bar.
Coffee Meets
First Tuesday of every month, 17:30
Flamingos, 10 Central Arcade, Leeds LS1 6DX
Our coffee meets take place on the first Tuesday of every month, and offer a more relaxed space for socialising. They’re perfect if you’re new to the community, or just wanting a place to unwind after work.
Located inside the Central Arcade, Flamingos is an inclusive, LGBTQ+ cafe in the heart of Leeds – and our new home!
Venue Amenities
Coffee, tea and cakes. The venue’s full menu is available on their website.
There are no fursuit facilities or changing areas available at this venue.
History
LeedsFurs started as a stop on the Northernfurs rotation, but if you’re new to the community (or even not-so-new at this point) this might not be something you’ve heard of before.
The first wave of northern furmeets in the UK worked on a monthly rotation between cities. Furs came from far and wide – not just Leeds but Manchester, York, Chester, and even Preston. As the number of furries increased, cities eventually began to hold “mini” meets outside the rotation, which grew into some of the larger meets that still run today.
LeedsFurs started holding regular monthly furry meets on 16 June 2012 after a number of successful mid-week pubbages. We’ve come a long way and grown a lot since then – in January 2018, we celebrated our 100th meet. We had a big blue cake with sugar animals on it. It were reet proper.
The Leeds meets (and by extension LeedsFurs) have been run by Wolfie and Lupestripe since 2007, with the first committee forming in May 2017. Since then, the team has grown significantly and now covers venue liaison, operations, welfare, and online communications. You can learn more about us on our staff page!
LeedsFurs are nothing if not unpredictable and on our fursuit walks, we have met the Army, toured around the Christmas Market, gone on a Ferris Wheel, ridden a rollercoaster, drove dodgems into each other, and hit one of those God-awful Minions with a mallet.
The coffee meets were introduced in 2017 and are relaxed social affairs – the perfect after-work experience. Initially in Laynes, we have been to a number of coffee houses across the city. We’re currently based in Flamingos, which serves excellent coffee and cakes.
LeedsFurs have been a regular fixture at Leeds Pride since 2018, marching in the parade alongside other LGBTQ+ groups and allies. We are proud to show our support to the queer community and we have always been thrilled with the reaction from the public.
We run one of the biggest meets in the UK and have introduced a few new concepts to UK meets as a whole. In many ways, you can say our team Leeds by example…
– Lupestripe (who was made to stop writing after that pun)
