The Potley Run: The best places to buy houseplants in Leeds
Look, I’m sorry for the dad joke but I couldn’t stop myself
Plants are an absolute uni staple. Go into any room in any student house and you will most likely find some kind of greenery – whether that’s a beautiful leafy jungle or withered supermarket basil. Or mould, if you’ve got unlucky with your landlord. It makes sense – in between falling out of Fruity or Beaverworks and keeping up with lectures, labs and seminars, it can be quite nice to focus your attention on something that isn’t you. Your essays can’t always get firsts, but your plants can always be watered.
With that in mind, we’ve pulled together a list of some of the best plant shops in Leeds, picked for quality, price, variety, and distance to uni. Take a look – even if you are a habitual plant-killer, there’s a shop in here that sells something for you. While I can’t quite match up to the sausage roll Otley Run, here is my alternative – almost every place to buy a houseplant in Leeds.
PS. Please read to the end because I calculated how much I walked for this article and it ended up being somewhere in the region of fifteen (FIFTEEN) miles. Yes, I am guilt tripping you. No, I am not sorry.
Hyde Park/Burley/Woodhouse
LUU/Beckett SU Plant stalls
I think I’m right in saying that these only really happen during the warmer months, but don’t knock them – they’re definitely worth a visit. I bought a (surprisingly cheap) cheese plant in my first week of freshers and it’s been cheerily hanging out in my room ever since with very few complications. I even left it for six weeks and went home for Christmas and it remained lovely and green when I fully expected it to have died a terrible death.
Hyde Park Book Club
If you haven’t been here, what are you doing? Lots of lovely lovely plants in all shapes and sizes, plus you can get a beautiful ceramic pot with them if you fancy. Also, perhaps this is a weird observation, but because HPBC is so full of books and art and posters and other things you can sort of envision what your plant would look like in your actual home. Bonus points for the halloumi bagels, jazz and general vibes.
Coffee on the Crescent
An absolutely stellar contribution to the ‘coffee shops that are also plant shops’ tradition. Whose idea was that? Imagine buying both a slice of cake and a plant at the same time. Genius. If someone took me on a date where both cake and plants were involved I would marry them instantly. The plant sizes here are really good – considering that if you’re just dropping in you might not want an absolutely giant pot plant – and so is the coffee. This one is absolutely perfect if you live close and are walking home after a tough day – grab a hot chocolate and a plant to cheer yourself up.
Poppy’s Potting Shed
A bit out of the way if you’re at uni (about half an hour’s walk from the Parkinson building into Burley), but for good reason, because this place is the largest houseplant shop in Leeds. They also offer dried flowers, for those of us who manage to kill every single plant we buy, and lots of pretty vases and pots. And if you’re stuck for choice (there’s lots), the hand-painted ‘menu’ above the till will help you out with the care requirements for each plant.
This place is very aesthetic – from the matching graphics and branded tote bags, to the bathtub surrounded by plants in the corner, this whole place was made for Instagram feeds. Pray the BeReal goes off when you’re in here.
Left Bank Leeds
Left Bank isn’t widely known as a houseplant store so much as just a creative space to sit, study or catch up with friends, but it does have a little corner that sells pots and plants as well as art, tote bags and stickers. My favourites were these blue ceramic planters – these would be perfect for gifts.
Headingley
Flourish Headingley
This is another very beautiful shop – sort of like walking into someone’s house. Once a coffee shop called The Rabbit Hole, Flourish is now full of beautiful and unusual plants and pots, as well as macrame and art prints. You can find it on the Otley Run route in Far Headingley, just down from Fika North and the Three Horseshoes.
City Centre
The Plant Point
They have terrariums (terraria?) here. Those tiny little plant universes in jars. Those ones. Obsessed. This shop is very peaceful and lovely – a bit of a walk from uni (it’s in the Corn Exchange) but absolutely worth it if you’re having a stressful day, or if you have a Saturday free. This one is really good if you want something completely different – they have the usual cheese plant/succulent/cactus selection but also more unusual options, like bonsai trees and a very cool little plant that I saw called a Buddha’s Temple (google it). And of course, you have the added bonus of wandering around the Corn Exchange, which is always nice if you have some free time.
Giant Kitten
Giant Kitten originally went under my radar – I originally walked past it on my way up to The Plant Point – but it’s got a good variety of plants on offer outside the shop and lots of pretty hand-painted pots inside. While technically a shop that specialises in Japanese kawaii gifts, the plants here are always on sale for a good price and look healthy and well-watered. And if you really can’t be trusted with a living plant, they sell fluffy Jellycat versions of tulips and cacti (very cute).
Kirkgate Market – M & D Florists and The Plant Shop
I get most of my plants from here – it’s cheap, and with two different plant stalls there are plenty of options to choose from. Both stalls are technically florists that sell houseplants – not that I can really afford cut flowers for my uni room, but they are very beautiful to look at. Again, a bit of a walk down from uni, but worth it for quality of plants and price and lovely to just wander round if you’ve got a free afternoon.