Second venture from Belgrave entrepreneurs set to open

HEADROW HOUSE “was never intended to be a patch it up sort of place” according to founder and bar entrepreneur Simon Stevens.

Sitting in a lesser-known area of Leeds, which was once home to Spooks nightclub, and in the site of Big Lil’s which shared a courtyard with The Vine, entrepreneurs Ash Kollakowski and Simon Stevens, with street food expert Ben Davy are set to launch their bar and eatery today.

A developer had picked up a project at the site, but it fell by the wayside, leaving the site largely unused for 10 years.

Mr Stevens said: “There’s been a shift in what people want in Leeds. It’s been a shift from clubs and all night drinking to food and bars – tastes have been refined!”

“Food has definitely changed the scene in Leeds, it’s a driving force.”

Last August the firm bought the freehold. “It’s a great spot and we got a fantastic deal on it. It was totally worth it for a city centre site. We sat on it for bit, as it was so close to Belgrave and we didn’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot, so to speak.

“The game-changer was bringing the Beacons festival in, which is taking up residency at Headrow House, instead of a field in Shipley.

“We initially thought we’d put some temporary pop-up bars there, though I won’t lie, we did say we’d never do it [launch a bar] again after Belgrave!”

“This time round we had big ideas and a goal which drove us harder, as well as being more experienced.”

This weekend also marks the two-year anniversary of Mr Stevens and his business partner’s first venture, Belgrave Music Hall.

For their birthday, they are holding an event in aid of the British Red Cross and encouraging donations for the refugee crisis.

They are giving away 5,000 free burgers and pizza slices over October, and customers can grab theirs on the hour every hour (with a batch in each giveaway) from Belgrave street food brands Patty Smiths Burgers and Dough Boys Pizza, from food entrepreneur Ben Davy.

Mr Stevens said: “We wanted to celebrate the Belgrave Music Hall second Birthday by involving the award winning food brands that we have in Belgrave.

“We decided to give away 5,000 burgers and pizza slices but also see this as a great opportunity to raise some money for British Red Cross who are doing great work with the Refugee Crisis Appeal.”

The first phase of the development will be launched this Friday, 2 October, including the Ox Club, a concept from Ben Davy who worked on the pizza and burger offerings at Belgrave.

For research, they went on a food trip to the USA, visiting Portland, Oregon, and Chicago and sampling their street food offerings.

Now they’re getting a 7ft grill and wood burner, and a beer selection that Mr Stevens said was “the biggest I’ve ever seen,” though, he said: “Ash is the beer man. We’ve even got an unpasteurised beer from Czechoslovakia, which is transported in 24 hours from the country to here. It will be the first site outside London offering this Pilsner, and there’s only two or three places in London that do it.”

“Leeds is the biggest village in the world and the support for Headrow House has been brilliant. even from people who don’t know the area, but have seen what we’ve done with Belgrave.”