Leeds bar from Belgrave entrepreneurs opens

A Leeds city centre bar has re-opened with a new image, courtesy of the entrepreneurs behind Belgrave Music Hall.

Water Lane Boathouse on Canal Wharf, formerly the Pour House, has now launched, featuring food from Small Victories Sourdough Pizza, as well as beer, wine and gin.

Built in the early 1800s, Water Lane Boathouse occupies a former shipment warehouse that later turned into a granary up until the early 20th Century and since then it has undergone several transformations as bars and restaurants, such as Heathcotes and Racasse.

The latter run by Simon Gueller, now at the Michelin-starred Box Tree, Ilkley.

The owners of Belgrave and Headrow House Ash Kollakowski, Simon Stevens and development chef Ben Davy, have now taken over the site for its latest reincarnation.

Ash said: “I fell in love with the boathouse building when I first came to Leeds in the late eighties, it’s an absolute dream to be able to do something with this historic spot, I really hope people like what we have done, we’ve managed to expose every piece of original brickwork and it looks great.”

Stevens said: “It’s been great working with such an historic building in such an exciting area of the city. The South Bank development looks pretty incredible and it will be interesting to see what changes it brings to the area.”