The Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, as it will be known, will feature a permanent pizza restaurant operated by pizza duo Dough Boys, who will launch their Italian hand-stretched wood-fired pizzas at Beacons Festival this month, before setting up permanent home at the new venue in October.
The second restaurant will be curated by Northern England's street food organisation Northern StrEATs, who, as SSP has done at Manchester Airport's Food Quarter, will run a series of street food pop-ups within the space. Fish & chip traders Fish& will open the restaurant before passing on the baton to another trader two months later.
More than music
Although operated by Leeds-based music promoters Simon Stevens and Ash Kollakowski, the three-storey venue situated in a former assembly hall, has been designed to provide a range of reasons to visit, not just to see live bands.
“Leeds already has some great venues but we think there’s room for something new alongside places like The Brudenell Social Club and The Cockpit," said Kollakowski, "When looking at what makes an amazing venue today, people’s expectations have definitely changed. It’s not just about the music anymore.
"We wanted to create a space we would curate properly, from the bookings to the food and drink, from the artwork to the way bar staff interact with customers. Every element of the venue is really important to us.”
Stevens and Kollakowski, who created brands such as Constellations, Beacons Festival and The Iron Wagon and programmed events at Nation Of Shopkeepers and The Cockpit, have also launched a new promotions company Super Friendz which will manage the new venue's programming and provide a new home for their existing events.
Bands signed to perform at the venue in the first month include Future of The Left, Spectrals, Múm, Daedelus and Sweet Baboo while the venue will also play host to Belgrave Street Feast, a new quarterly event curated by Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, Northern StrEats and Sandinista. Due to be held on 4 and 5 October, the venue's opening weekend, it will feature street food vendors Dough Boys, Fish&, Diamond Dogs, FuSchnickens, Manjeet’s Kitchen, Pattie Smiths and Hell-Fire Catering.