Demolition of Stick or Twist: This is what's next for the popular Leeds pub

The Merrion Way watering hole is part of a two-storey building near the First Direct Arena which is due to be cleared to make way for a new student accommodation development.

Here's why Stick or Twist is being demolished

The building's other tenant, the Grosvenor Casino, closed two years ago.

Despite fears the popular pub would be lost forever, we can reveal that it's not shutting for good - and will re-open at a new location when the Unite apartment blocks are completed.

Wetherspoons confirmed that the chain has a 90-year lease on the Stick or Twist site, and as part of the re-development has been allocated a new unit on the ground floor of the student flats complex. An opening date has not been confirmed, although the blocks themselves are not expected to be completed until August 2020.

Unite have been given permission to build two tower blocks, one 27-storey and one with 15 floors, on Merrion Way, Tower House Street and Brunswick Terrace.

Councillors approved the plans as part of proposals to improve the area following concerns that regeneration predicted after the opening of the arena had been slow to happen.

The student apartments were considered 'compatible' with the location. Around 900 students are expected to live in the flats once completed, and the development will have a basement car park.