Bar group to launch second Leeds site at Boar Lane

“Leeds is a cracking night out,” said Be At One bars co-founder Steve Locke, and he has put his money where is mouth is, launching the company’s second site in Leeds.

The national operator is launching its second Leeds offering across town from its original Millennium Square site. The Boar Lane site is the bar company’s 32nd site in the UK since launching outside London four years ago.

“Be At One is about having unpretentious fun, and so is Leeds, so I knew we’d fit in here,” said Locke.

“When we first headed to Leeds, Millennium Square was a great spot. We looked around Boar lane and it’s a real tangible difference – they are totally different markets, even half a mile apart they are tangibly different areas.”

He said the company kept its ear close to the ground, and jumped at the chance to move into the Boar Lane area.

“It’s the perfect site and perfect spot. It’s a bit smaller, intimate space. Millennium Square is a bigger site with a nice outside area. The Boar Lane site is smaller, close to Trinity Leeds and more like the classic bars we opened in London, such as the original at Battersea Rise. With a 900 sq ft trading floor, it gets buzzing very quickly, and this site will have the same sort of feel.”

Locke said that one of the biggest differences in the industry since he launched Be At One with his co-founders Leigh Miller and Rhys Oldfield 19 years ago was the evolving tastes of customers, and the growing popularity of cocktails.

“Cocktail culture is the biggest change we’ve seen, it’s a total revolution really. The UK is a world leader in the quality of cocktails- it always used to be about New York and now it’s the UK. The best bartenders in the world definitely come from UK.”

With 122 cocktails on the mix, and local craft ales and spirits slipped in for good measure, Be At One can certainly provide for the cocktail-loving masses with their new bar in the city.

“People get cocktails here in Leeds and across the UK, which is why we thought it would fit in really well with Leeds.

“Hand on heart as a national operator, there’s not that much difference in the way people socialise and drink. They want to be hosted like they’re in someone’s home, with great cocktails, great music and hosting – that’s not just a London thing or a Leeds thing.

“We want people to have the best night of their entire lives in our bars!”