Tiled Hall Café

The space that the café is in used to be a gallery space for Leeds Art Gallery and is in itself a work of art. As the name suggests, it is a large space that is tiled all over -- except for the floor, which is wood panelling. The hall connects the central library and the art gallery and if you want to go from the downstairs of the gallery to the upstairs via the lift, you will actually have to go through it. The café offers a selection of sandwiches, pastries and cakes, snacks, hot and cold drinks. The only plant milk available is oat milk and it does not cost extra. Hot food is on offer from 11am to 3pm. This would be toasties, paninis and a daily changing soup or stew. There are a couple of vegetarian and one vegan option.

Me and a few friends (one with a visual impairment, I have a walking aid) went for lunch here on a busy sunday afternoon. The tables are a little packed together. The toilets were a bit of a nightmare. A disabled toilet is inside each of the non-disabled toilets (one in women's/ one in men's). Because the women's toilets were out of order, the outer door had been locked, meaning no one could access the disabled toilet either. We were told there were some more on the first floor but because of poor signage, we couldn't find them. Luckily, the caretaker had the keys and spotted me and a non-disabled friend looking very confused, and unlocked the toilets for us, then I could use the accessible one. On a positive note, the food was really nice, and staff were helpful at serving us then we didn't have to wait in the large queues.

Beautiful building in the Leeds Central Library, with impressive tall ceilings and pillars, and other exhibitions happening around the building too. Good food with a nice range of hot and cold food as well as drinks and cakes. We went on a Saturday afternoon and it was quite busy but managed to put some tables together to all fit. There are different varieties of seats; some sofas, some smaller and larger tables with chairs. Would definitely go again, now that we know how to get to the toilets, but on your first time definitely ask - very poor signs!