Bar Review

Bar Review Wax Bar and Jukejoint, Leeds

We call into the brand new vintage-themed bar above Sela

Everybody knows the age old adage, ‘good things come in small packages’. It’s a sweeping statement banded about on a frequent basis but, of course, like so many things in life it’s not always black and white. A little HM Revenue & Customs letter with some elusive tax money back? Yes please. That little birthday envelope with only a £5 cheque in from Grandma? Of course she means well but a fiver doesn’t get you the cinema tickets, sweets and ride home that it used to when she was 25.

Fortunately, Wax Bar and Jukejoint is one small…

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Bar Review Empire

The Empire strikes back – with Jager bombs, as Sam JT Butterworth discovers

It was Saturday night and I wanted to go somewhere new in Leeds. There are some great bars and pubs around, but sometimes a new experience is needed and this particular Saturday, it was Empire bar.

The location could be seen as problematic or beneficial, depending on your point of view. On one hand this music venue and city bar is a little out of the city centre, just past Leeds Bridge, across the road from The Adelphi pub – though this latter venue doesn’t seem to suffer from a lack of custom. On the other hand, this part of…

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Bar Review SoBe Bar & Lounge

We escape the wintry weather with some Miami-inspired cocktails

With the nights drawing in, we fancied being transported back to the tropical sights and sounds of a summer holiday – and we might just have found the ideal place.

Stepping off Call Lane on a dark evening, we ventured towards SoBe Bar and Lounge, a Miami-themed joint just off the beaten track. The bright colours and South Beach influenced decor lured us in for a midweek cocktail, as we attempted to bring back some of the sunshine from our summer holidays.

Looking through the drinks menu, we were impressed to find a combination of the traditional and some of…

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Bar Review Leeds city centre pub The Wrens

We visit the city centre pub that has a new look and a new menu

The Wrens is almost unrecognisable from its former self. Walking through the doors of the Wrens Hotel on New Briggate, the only thing to detract from the stylish and elegant new décor is the row of real ale pumps lined up at the bar, served by a disarmingly friendly barman.

This place has undergone quite a transformation from the days when it was known as little more than a good, slightly grungy-but-comfortable boozer for locals and those going to and coming from the nearby Grand Theatre. Gone is the dusty old furniture and stuffy floral wallpaper, and in its place…

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Bar Review The Maven

Lucy Adlard visits an inconspicuous new cocktail bar above Call Lane

Going to The Maven, the newest kid on the block in terms of Leeds’ bars, feels a little like you have been transported to the time of Prohibition in the US. With a barely noticeable sign and the venue hidden up an inconspicuous looking staircase, The Maven conceals itself just behind the Corn Exchange on the first floor of 1 Call Lane.

Never ones to be out of the loop, we seek out the new bar after work on a Friday evening. Once located and sheepishly entered, fearing we had just walked into someone’s house we find the bar welcoming,…

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Bar Review Massey's Booksellers City Bar, Leeds

We visit a new Leeds rock'n'roll cocktail bar with a bookish history

In 1924 John Massey opened a book shop in the centre of Leeds on Cookridge Street. Only four years later the venture failed and the shop went into liquidation, but the name was not to be lost forever. Today on the very site of the original shop sitsMassey’s Booksellers City Bar; a hip new cocktail bar whose name pays homage to the building’s literary roots. I took a trip down to Massey’s to see what it has to offer.

I strolled through the door, through the eccentrically and interestingly decorated room and up to the bar. I was quickly…

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Bar Review The Belgrave, Leeds review

Ali Schofield tries an undead cocktail at Leeds' newest bar

Where were you when it was announced Leeds Cue Club was due to close? I know, you were devastated, right? I’ll be honest, I work nearby and was a fully paid up member of the northern quarter’s dingy snooker bar (it was £1 entry or £1 for a membership card) but I was pleased to hear a few months ago that it was to become a new cocktail bar. And when my editor asked if I wanted to go along and review The Belgrave, I’d already chalked up more visits to the bar in the last month than I…

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Bar Review The Bierkeller

Joe Cox has a night of Bavarian drinking in a converted bank

We all love the atmosphere of the German Market in winter; whether it be tucking into a currywurst, spinning on the carousal, trying on inane hats and, of course, not forgetting the beer tent that nicely keeps us out of the cold and entertains us too.

As part of a £1m redevelopment of the former Sports Cafe on The Headrow, Park Row Bar & Brasserie, there’s now a new Leeds venture to help us to keep our spirits up and allow us to experience the German festivities all year round.

Leeds’ very own Bierkeller (beer cellar for you and me)…

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Bar Review Duck & Drake

Simon O'Hare revisits a proper pub serving well-kept real ale

The Duck & Drake is an interesting old pub, standing on a corner of Kirkgate where a drinking den of one form or another has reportedly existed for a couple of hundred years or so. During World War II, when it was known as the Brougham Arms, it apparently had a reputation as a meeting place for local women and American GIs. You don’t get so much of that these days, but what you do get is a fine example of a good old British pub. After going under new ownership a year or so ago, the place has been…

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Bar Review Alfred

Tom Goodhand delights at a cosy neighbourhood bar in Meanwood set up by the folks behind North Bar

Many of Leeds’ more discerning drinkers will know the North Bar group very well. As well as running the beer-lovers haven that is North Bar in Leeds city centre (which must have one of the best international beer selections in the country), they can also boast the magnificent gastro-pub the Cross Keys in Holbeck and the intimate Chapel Allerton drinking den of Further North.

Their latest project has seen them open a brand new bar in Meanwood, a north Leeds suburb which is experiencing something of a resurgence following the arrival of a swanky new Waitrose supermarket…

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