Leeds entrepreneur behind the Leelex group on bars, Basque and burgers

“I ALWAYS say ‘never again’,” said Ged Feltham, when asked if another bar in Leeds might be the next opening for the founder of hospitality group Leelex.

“But I said that the first time and now I’ve opened three more in Leeds so you never know.”

His company has just opened Basque-style tapas restaurant Pintura, at Trinity Leeds, just a few hundred yards from where his entrepreneurial career began in 1996.

He said: “With Oporto on Call Lane, it was a bit of a baptism of fire. I was only 25 and we had some partners back then, but the business didn’t work brilliantly to start off with, we were young and naive.

“I set up Leelex in 2000 and from there Oporto went from strength to strength.

“Then we got Jake’s Burger involved and that collaboration, Jake’s Bar, proved to be a phenomenal, nationwide success.”

It hasn’t all been plain sailing for the entrepreneur, and he doesn’t forget his less successful ventures.

“We opened up The Angel’s Share in Chapel Allerton which was hit and miss,” he said. “I moved back to London and The Angel’s Share might have been a victim of me moving, but the rest of the business was definitely invigorated by my moving down south again.

“There’s a lot more going on down there on the food and beverage scene and it gave me the inspiration to start new things up in Leeds.”

This inspiration led him to develop Mexican tequila bar Neon Cactus, having seen the new Mexican food movement first-hand in London.

Leelex then moved to London with the opening of the Portobello Star, which brought about the development of the Portobello Road gin brand.

Back in Yorkshire, Cielo Blanco became the group’s first food-led operation.

Mr Feltham said: “I don’t think I would have done unless I’d seen it work so well at Red’s True Barbecue in Leeds – they’ve done so well, hats off to them.”

Success came with Cielo Blanco as well, and the 58-cover restaurant sees 2,000 customers a week at Trinity Shopping Centre, which meant landlords Land Securities were happy for Leelex’s second outlet to open.

Alongside managing director Paul Lane, Mr Feltham is already planning his next ventures which includes a £700,000 investment in a Cielo Blanco site in Manchester’s Spinningfields, which will create over between 30 and 40 jobs.

Mr Feltham said: “We’re looking at the London market but it’s amazingly competitive. We are going to do more in London, I’m aiming for two or three sites in the next couple of years.

“There’s nothing in the pipeline in Leeds for the moment, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t. The city is expanding so much right now that its a different animal than it used to be, other areas are expanding and have potential.”

The hospitality sector was badly hit by the recession, with many companies unable to survive because of its depth and longevity.

“The recession bit really hard, we survived because we were so busy,” he said. “We were a bit quieter but not to the extent that we were in any sort of danger, it wasn’t enough to bring us down.

“I’m surprised many of the independents managed to survive it, though some did go down. Since then people have returned with an entrepreneurial spirit, and are more willing to take a risk.

“Places like Bundobust, The Brotherhood, The Pit and Belgrave, where Ash and his team made a difficult space work, have done a fantastic job. They’re quite student-orientated places but brilliant design.”

“Now we’re back to having more unique places. After opening Oporto, Leeds’ bar scene was second to none, in the 2000’s. Now it’s stagnated a bit. Everything that opened wanted to be part of the late night bar scene. We’re not moving away from the bar scene but towards food-led projects.

“Paul and I always want to open up places that we ourselves would love to go to, that’s how we judge the success of a venture and why we’re so passionate about all our ventures.”