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Leeks are a favourite veg and I’ve grown them over many years with variable degrees of success. The main failure involves bolting which makes them of very little culinary use. This year I did my homework on the internet and came up with two varieties new to me. In the past I’ve imagined that different varieties are really all much of a muchness, but I have been astonished by the performance of both new varieties, which are  Oarsman and Bandit. I feared that this year’s weather, with high temps and drought (up here in sunny Cumbria) would be a surefire recipe for newly transplanted leeks going to seed, but instead I have the best looking leeks I can remember which are now growing really fast and no sign of bolting.
I’d be interested to hear from any other veg growers to compare notes.

I too enjoy growing (and eating!) leeks. After a few years with varying results this year, though I say it myself, my leeks are magnificent! About 6cm in diameter and 15cm of pure white stem below some luxurious greenery and very tasty. I would attach a photo but I am too tight to register and pay £20. All I have done is dig in tons of very well rotted horse poo before planting out and I covered the lower stems with short bits of drainpipe after a couple of months growth. I have not done any extra feeding as I am told leeks should not need it. Interestingly I have never experienced leeks bolting. Maybe the weather this year is the reason we have both had such success. I will try those varieties you mention next year. 

Does a bolted leek get a sport grade?

I like (trying) to grow leeks.

My last lot were prone to bolting. I don't know why. Also, after many years of success, I had two in a row where few of my seeds germinated. They were in a poly tunnel, prior to planting out, and sown in March-ish. Again I don't know why.

I am a bit lazy at noting down what I have sown, so I don't know the varieties. Will try the ones you mention however, plus perhaps the ones from Real Seeds, who I find consistently give me interesting produce:

https://www.realseeds.co.uk/leeks.html

When you saying your leeks bolt when does this happen.  I've grown leeks for a few years and have never had a problem with them bolting when they've been transplated. Usually around March any that remain after the winter start to thicken up and get ready to flower but thats all I've experienced.

This year I planted two varieties one early and one late but I've still got to see how they turn out but they are looking good, not thick like Groundhog's but I plant them fairly close together as I like baby leeks.  I usually plant them in raised beds filled with manure and they seem to do pretty well.

If leeks are bolting, they need to be tied up or kept in a safe netted enclosure. Or given something to live for - a reason not to leave home

Often I’ve had half or more of them bolt by about now. I put it down to not enough water or drying out in hot late summer. I’ve tried the old trick of trimming the tops when transplanted and trimming the roots back to about an inch, but whether this does any good ……

I've done all that too and usually I get good results. But not for the last two years. It's infuriating, but part of the fun of it all.

Same with my peppers. Loads of them, but pretty much all of them have gone mangy this year as soon as they go red, so it's green ones or nothing. I think I might have been overwatering, but that is really shorthand for I have no idea why.

Ive never grown leeks but I'm garlic self-sufficient and this is a gentle reminder to those interested to ensure you get the cloves in the ground by the end of the month.

Leek pudding ( the all in one version) is one of my greatest culinary discoveries.

My chili season has been great. Ive done jalapeños,  ghost, habanero,  royal black, Hungarian hot wax,  dusk, patio fire, red cherry, cayenne and my final bush is a small white hab called heat and neat.

The chillies have also been great*. Best find this year has been the Chinese Dragon Tongues - not too hot but very prolific and attractive. I've been drying them in the oven. Whole, they look great and crumbled into flakes they smell wonderfully warm.

I will dutifully plant my garlic cloves very soon, but I cannot ever seem to get big heads of garlic at the end, unlike with onions where eventual magnificence seems to be well within the grasp of my punterish hands.

Except for Guajillos, which are big, almost the size of the sweet peppers. Green, good (and heaps and heaps), red, rotten.

My chillis have been super too. Loads of fireballs in the freezer. 

I've grown garlic for a few years. I selected a good english variety and planted in a bed with loads of organic stuff from the compost heap. Plant early.

Anyway sorry for the hijack. I enjoy veg threads.

Oops. I forgot this was about leeks.

I do too.

Last year in Cornwall about half of mine bolted. I had dug in lots of horse poo too, but didn't do your drainpipe thing. 

Don't mention it, not a problem.

I chop any leeks that are bolted. Sorry, but that's just my gardening ethics.

My conclusion, based on all of one year's experience (!) is that it comes down to the variety. The two I mentioned above were. IIRC, billed as resistant to bolting. They are also, again IIRC, both F1 hybrids, but looking at my lovely crop I have long forgotten the extra cost. Seeds came from Chiltern Seeds.

Can't match that!

That sounds like a big job and lots of chopping up drain pipes. I usually plant at least 100 a year. Interesting technique, though. I always transplant into as deep a hole as I can make - about 9" I guess - and that gives me plenty of white flesh.

They look great. An allotment neighbour of mine bought a variety of onions, similarly billed as resistant to bolting, and had far fewer bolt than I did.

I talked to an old guy today who is a champion leek grower. I remembered your post and asked him how to stop leeks bolting. He said that when a leek decides to bolt you can't stop it. But consistent watering was the key to stop the leek thinking about doing a runner.

You’d be in trouble if you tried to grow one in gritstone country.