Ham, Friends, and All The Trimmings at New Festive Pop-up

By now it’s no secret that award-winning charcuterie bar Friends of Ham are expanding their flock with new concept Ham & Friends - the combination wine bar, shop, food hall, restaurant, and deli.

There’s over a dozen special events throughout the month, as friends pop in to host workshops, tastings, crafts, pop-up shops, and cinema screenings.

Some of the & Friends in the two-storey Grand Arcade venue include local cheesemongers George & Joseph, and Yorshire Wine School. Thing is, it’s not due to open until Spring 2017, and FoH have got a lot of friends they want to make time for over the holidays.

Just like your office grinds to a halt around this time of year as people look forward to Christmas (Not speaking from experience, if my publisher’s reading this…), the builders currently renovating the gorgeous, historic plot will be downing their tools while Ham & Friends hosts All The Trimmings: a festive pop-up giving a small taste of what to expect when it opens in a few months.

Ham & Friends' First Floor Skylight

 

Work in Progress in the Grand Arcade

Between Thursday 1 and Saturday 24 December, the Grand Arcade will serve as a Wine & Raclette bar, as well as a Hamper, Cheese & Wine shop so you can stock up for Christmas buffets or - crazy idea - give them away as gifts.

...or not.

The Raclette bar will be a Ham & Friends mainstay when it opens in Spring 2017 

There’s also more than a dozen special events throughout the month, as friends pop in to host workshops, tastings, crafts, pop-up shops, and cinema screenings.

Pop-up Shops

It doesn’t get much more meta than pop-ups within a pop-up within a shop within an arcade - and there’s plenty of em here. Online Hygge heroes Enkelhed will have a stand selling Scandinavian-inspired simple, design-focused homeware. They’ll be joined on opening day by a selection of Ham & Friends suppliers, who’ll be selling their wares between 10am and 6pm. Little Leeds Beer House will be selling a selection of beers and gifts on Saturday 10 December.

Little Leeds Beer House pop-up, Saturday 10 December

Making & Doing

National magazine Food& will be demonstrating their new range of recipe cards in-store from 7pm on Friday 2 December, with Paper Cut Bindery coming in on the Saturday for a Notebook Binding Workshop from 10:30am, where punters can pop in and learn how to make gifts for the stationary geeks in their life.

Katie Laura Ashton Flowers is hosting a wreath-making workshop on the morning of Saturday 10 December, giving you plenty of time to display your creation on the front door, and if your tree’s feeling naked, Stich Up’s macrame Christmas decoration workshop should help dress it up a bit.

Kate Laura Ashton Flowers' wreath-aking workshop, Saturday 10 December

Music & Film

Swing-Jazz band The Big Easy Duo will be performing a suitably chilled out session every Sunday between 2pm and 5pm, starting on the 4th. Three cinema events are taking place throughout the month, all matched with three glasses of wine inspired by the film; Bottle Shock (6th), Sideways (13th), and Somm (20th). There’s something for kids to enjoy on Saturday 17th, as Boomchikkaboom bring their snow machine and family-friendly rave to the Kids’ Festive Fun Day, where they can get photos with Santa, face-painting, and more.

Tickets at http://www.hamandfriends.com (unless stated otherwise)