The Light's plan to party into darkness

The new illuminated installation is the centre-piece in a series of events being staged tomorrow at, The Light on The Headrow, as the venue makes its claim on being ‘the go-to leisure destination’ in Leeds.

The owners of the grade II listed building, Legal and General, are upping the game in a bid to take back the crown as the city’s principal leisure only venue in the wake of massive development in the sector over recent years, notably Trinity Leeds and Victoria Gate.

General manager Brian Oakley said: “It is about The Light being the top leisure destination, where we wanted to be and where we should be – the only dedicated leisure scheme in Leeds.”

There will be a ‘day and night’ theme, in that the Vue Cinema Nuffield Health and shops provide a family type package of activities for the day time.

As dusk falls the mood changes and so do the lights. There will be a spectacular light show on the hour and a mini show every half an hour.

And the family theme makes way for something more vibrant, sharp and edgy, as The Light becomes an adults playground with its range of bars, and restaurants such as Brown’s, Zizzi’s, Firelake and Turtle Bay.

George’s Great British Kitchen with its, well British inspired menu, and the most gin-tastic drinks menu, will also be opening in May.

Mr Oakley added: “In the day it is very family orientated then we have the restaurants and then we have got the later operators like Tiger Tiger and Turtle Bay. We wanted a different day and night feel.”

The Light has had three different owners and Legal and General have had control for the last two and a half.

In total, with the Light Show and other internal changes and revamps, the owners have invested £2m in their vision.

Mr Oakley, who has been at The Light for the 15 years that it has been open added: “Legal and General have got a vision for the scheme and this is what how feel we should be in the city – unique, different and leading.”

Tomorrow’s extravagant launch party starts at noon with music, theatre and dance performances and drop in hula- hoop sessions throughout the day, alongside musical statue hula hoop games led by fun character Spinderella.

In addition there is a multi-sensory interactive installation that both children and adults can enjoy.

Later in the day, from, 4.30pm to 6.30pm, there will be music from DJ James Cusack and live presenting from Capital FM breakfast show radio hosts, Adam, Danny and JoJo, prior to the main event.

At 6.30pm will be the big focus – the result of four months of hard work and the £1m investment to produce ‘The Light Show’.

The highlight for the evening launch will be a live performance from chart topping artist JP Cooper who will be singing his famous track, September Song.

And as the day turns to night, it will be wrapped up with a ‘Black Out’ pop up bar as the party continues well into the dark with celebratory drinks and cocktails from Tiger Tiger.