Bartender's Choice Louise Howard, Aire Bar
Where the stars behind the bars reveal their favourite drinks - this fortnight Fruli
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Louise and her husband Christopher have been running the Aire Bar for almost six years now, during which time the city centre and its bar scene has gone from strength to strength.
“I think it’s changed because we’ve seen a lot of new city centre developments, so obviously there’s been an influx of new people coming in,” Louise says. “Our customer base is always changing aswell, probably because people have six months let and things like that. And we’re really proactive, with things like advertising and just putting ourselves out there. We’ve obviously got Sky as well and that has been brilliant for the World Cup. And just expanding the range of beers – we started off with one real ale, then two and now we’re on to three. When we first came here I’d never have dreamed of putting the real ales in, as it wouldn’t have suited this place in the city centre. But it’s a good trend and it’s definitely something which is worth having in now.”
The Aire Bar’s top selling point is surely the fact that it’s a lovely building with a beautiful waterside outlook, but another appealing feature is that it always seems to attract a good mixed clientele, as Louise explains: “During the week we pick up a lot of the office crowd so we’ve got a lot of really good regulars in, and then at the weekend we’ve got regulars with the football on and things like that. Yeah we’ve got such a good mix of customers. Anyone from hen dos to stag dos, to grandparents who just want to come in and have a cup of tea on the balcony.”
With a drinks selection as impressively varied as the customer base at Aire Bar, what does Louise choose as her ultimate bartender’s choice? “I really don’t know because I like them all,” she says, looking across the bar. “But… I really love Fruli. Let’s do Fruli,” she says, which is a very wise choice for the summer months.
“It’s a strawberry wheat beer and we get a lot of females drinking it,” Louise says. “We get a few men drinking it aswell, but it’s probably more a ladies’ drink. And it’s not something that you can just drink like Carling or Peroni, as you’d probably only have a couple. It’s a really good summery drink, especially for sitting outside on the balcony. It’s very popular at the moment. And I think one of the things why females drink it is that it doesn’t taste of lager at all, it tastes… I wouldn’t say like a strawberry smoothie, but along those lines.”
Drink: Fruli
Price: £3.85/pint; £1.95/half
Posted on Wednesday 7th July 2010
SO'H
Aire Bar
32 The Calls, Leeds, LS2 7EW
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