Champagne bar fails to fizz
A CHAMPAGNE bar launched by one of Yorkshire’s best known bar owners, Len Cohen, has shut after just six months.
Len’s Bar Champagne Lounge in York Place, Leeds, was opened earlier this year by veteran entertainment entrepreneur Len Cohen who promised it would offer a sophisticated venue for discerning drinkers.
However the venture has folded after just six months. The bar was closed yesterday with a sign on the door telling creditors to contact insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor.
Mr Cohen, a long-serving member of the Variety Club charity’s Yorkshire committee, founded Len’s Bar and Digby’s nighclub also on York Place more than 30 years ago, bringing bar culture to Leeds for the first time.
Three decades later after a hip replacement and triple heart bypass surgery, he returned to the street to take over the former premises of failed bar and restaurant Plush, launching a smart champagne bar offering waiter service, entertainment including pianists and lounge singers and champagne priced at up to £150 a bottle.
After a £150,000 refurbishment Mr Cohen opened the venture in February with an appearance from 1960s Pools winner Viv Nicholson, who vowed to “spend, spend, spend” after her record windfall in 1961.
However the venue failed to attract enough business and has been put in the hands of insolvency specialists. John Royle of Begbies Traynor, who is handling Len’s Bar Champagne Lounge was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The closure follows last month’s news that nearby bar and restaurant Breeze had shut down with its owners blaming construction of the Lumiere skyscraper for putting off customers.
Ironically, construction of Lumiere was halted by KW Linfoot last week as a result of the squeeze on the construction sector following the credit crunch.
