The stereotype of the Londoner who thinks everywhere north of the
Watford Gap is a bleak void full of sheep-shaggers and dark satanic
mills is painfully accurate. But as anyone who has bothered to venture
outside the M25 knows, there are plenty of other hip cities in this
great country of hours. Leeds, for instance. No, really. To prove it,
Yorkshire Post Newspapers has launched a monthly glossy called Absolute
Leeds, ’the essential guide to style in Leeds’. ’Quite a thin
publication, then?’ cynics might chide. Au contraire - it’s 65 fun-
packed pages long. And who do you think advertises on the outside back
page of the first issue? Absolut Vodka, of course. The same issue
contains an Absolut Leeds guide and a review of the Absolut art
collection, now showing in the city. Key accounts manager Dena Forbes
and sponsorship manager Karen Davies were behind the sale. Vodka shots
all round.