Hello! We hope you celebrated Yorkshire Day in style. Mia, visiting Sheffield, explored the joys of smearing pork dripping — from the city’s beloved Béres pie shops — onto a crumpet. Brad celebrated the death of his friend’s thirties on Saturday (we’re not being morbid, that was the theme for the night). He had no time to nurse any sore heads the following day though, as his help was required moving a new bed and very large, very heavy mattress into his partner’s attic room. Not that he feels any way about it.
In today’s briefing, we’ve got the latest on a cricket scandal sweeping Yorkshire and a confusing situation in Wakefield, where it appears the Reform-led council may have accidentally banned the city’s own coat of arms in their flag-boosting efforts …
All that and more in your Monday briefing.
The round-up:
🏏 The ‘Clicky Ponting’ scandal rumbled on over the weekend, with the Times reporting that former Pudsey St Lawrence cricketer Brian Devine is not the only one accused of the suspect tactic. Devine, now suspended from his current club Saltburn, is accused of clicking his fingers in a manner designed to trick the umpire into thinking the batter clipped the ball. This — cricket fans, please correct us — can have massive consequences when technology isn’t available to determine if the batter has in fact touched the ball (although even then, there’s been plenty of controversy surrounding “Snicko”, one of the technologies used in the past). Pudsey St Lawrence and Saltburn didn’t respond to our requests for comment, though the former told the T&A that they had never had any complaints at the time. Alan Birkinshaw, head of the Bradford Cricket League — which oversees Pudsey St Lawrence — said “our policy is not to undertake retrospective investigations.”
🫖 It’s the end of an era for Merrie England cafes, which announced the closure of all its seven sites last Tuesday. The Tudor-styled chain’s been around for almost 60 years, serving hot beef sandwiches and egg custard to eager punters across Huddersfield, Halifax and Brighouse. It changed hands in 2024, but a company statement now blames “the cost of goods, business rates, energy costs, and the wider rising costs associated with staffing and government policy.” BPI Asset Management is handling the sale of the business.
🇬🇧 Has Wakefield council banned its own flag? In a reorganisation of what flags can fly on the exterior of council buildings — which passed at Wednesday night’s meeting — Reform limited the approved flags to four: the Union flag, the Cross of St George, the Yorkshire flag and the Armed Forces Day flag. In a follow-up TikTok video, the Green party’s Kate Dodd pointed out the flags now excluded included the Royal British Legion’s and the Merchant Navy’s, as well as the Wakefield coat of arms that currently hangs to the left of the mayor in council meetings. Turns out there really is a flag for everything.
🛍️ In slightly more practical news, Wakefield council did agree on something: to look into using powers which will allow them to auction off the rights to rent shops that have been empty for more than a year. According to the Centre for Cities, in 2025 14.4% of Wakefield’s high street was estimated unoccupied — that figure is even worse for Bradford, at 18%. High Street Rental Auction powers potentially force landlords to accept lower rents than they would like, but — so the theory goes — any use of a shop is better than no use. Despite some standard carping about who thought of it first (council leader Karl Johnson said he had been on the cusp of announcing it himself) and a Reform amendment that insisted on a cost-benefit analysis first, the motion passed. Let’s see what comes back in six months.
🌹 The Wars of the Roses are entering their emoji era, according to a nicely-timed stunt from south Leeds’ White Rose shopping centre, which has applied to the Unicode Consortium — the body that oversees these things — for a white rose emoji, which aside from anything else, would be pretty handy for this newsletter.
The big picture:
Richard Marchewka caught this ace shot of Civil War reenactment group the Sealed Knot at a demonstration of battle tactics at Bolling Hall recently, the backdrop bringing us its own kind of clash between history and suburbia. Catch all of Marchewka’s West Yorkshire shots at his account here.
Home of the week:
The seller of this modern townhouse in Kingfisher Court, Bradford clearly loves darts but we’ll leave it up to you to deduce whether the blue and white scarf proudly displayed on the wall outs them as a Huddersfield Town fan, or maybe Reading? This four-bedroom house is spread across three floors and includes a garage that is being used as a gym/games room. Yours for £219,950.
Catching up:
Our weekend read about the rise and fall of North Brewing and Magic Rock had readers reminiscing about a heady era of beery innovation: “Being part of the North Brewing membership was something special in the golden years,” said reader Jelin K. “Collaborations with some of the best breweries in the world, free merch and beer festival tickets, and discounts across all their bars. Maybe it was too generous and too good to last forever. Miss those days.” However, we did update the story to better reflect the circumstances and timeline of Kirkstall Brewery’s rescue deal with North (and subsequent sale of the brand to another company). You can read the full amendment in the article.
We also had our first ever writer’s edition from Brad, who gave us a snapshot of his inner world as a reporter, a devoted fan of Marcelo Bielsa, and someone constantly “yo-yo-ing” between Leeds and Bradford. Let us know what you think of writer’s editions: they’re there to give a bit of a look at how our reporting bubbles away, as well as to help you get to know the team.
Things to do:
💭 Anime fans, this one’s for you. A talk on the art history of Studio Ghibli takes place at The Wardrobe in Leeds on Wednesday evening, between 7pm and 9.30pm. It’s one of the most famous film studios in the world, but “there’s a lot more to Studio Ghibli” than just the films. Helen McCarthy, who wrote the first books in English on anime and Ghibli’s co-founding director Hayao Miyazaki, will take you on a journey through the studio’s history and inspiration, with time and space to appreciate selected artworks. This one is proving popular with just a few tickets left (£18).
✍️ If you love writing as much as we do at The Exchange and you’re a budding novelist, poet, or anything else writing related, then sign-up for Andrew Nichols’s Writers Hangout. These take place every week on Thursdays currently, between 7pm and 8.30pm. Described as a “friendly place” to “unpack writing problems” then share work and receive feedback. The sessions are free, just sign-up here.
🕺 Your thirties are the time to be loud and proud (trust us, Brad knows) and what better way to celebrate that than dancing at DaySessions on Saturday. Taking place between 5.30pm and 10pm on Saturday at the Royal Armouries, this promises “good vibes only” and “all the fun of a night out without the late-night hassle”. If we weren’t already such social animals ourselves, we’d be down there with you. Tickets are £16.66, or £12.60 each on a four-for-three deal.
