Cuban cocktail bar to create 100 Leeds jobs

BAR brand Revolución de Cuba is investing £1.5m in a new site in Leeds, on the corner of Lower Briggate and Call Lane.

The Revolución de Cuba brand, under the umbrella of the listed Revolution Bar Group, will set up shop along the well-known street, creating 100 jobs in the process.

The site will open in late October, with three bars across three floors.

Clint Ghent, brand manager of Revolución de Cuba told TheBusinessDesk.com: “This site is a great space; it’s historically had good footfall, and Call Lane is great reputation as a night time hotspot. It’s close to Trinity Leeds, the city centre and the train station, what’s there not to love?

“Leeds is a huge market, I almost think we’re a bit late to the party! It’s been booming for the last few years. We operate the Revolution vodka bars, so we know it’s a really vibrant city.

“Every one of our sites is individual, we don’t take a cookie cutter approach to design. It’s about using space really well.

The firm has five other Revolución de Cuba bars, in Manchester, Derby, Sheffield, Norwich and Cardiff. The Leeds site will be the firm’s second biggest after Manchester.

The firm aims to open 3-5 bars a year, and its next few sites are set for Milton Keynes and Nottingham.

Mr Ghent said: “Each bar is different in how they look and feel. We want to get a crowd from all day, into the evening and late night. We’ll have live music, Latin food including tapas and cocktails. It’ll be like a holiday in Leeds!

“Our recruitment targets are aiming for 100 jobs for the site across the board, 50-60% are full time.

“It will be big, but it won’t feel like a big bar. We’ll have great atmosphere and entertainment across two floors.

“We set ourselves up as accessible to all, but our sweet spot in terms of demographic is the over-25 market.”