Member Article

Well-known Leeds restaurant team launches new venture

The people behind one of Leeds most iconic restaurants- with a reputation spanning almost 20 years- are this week opening their second venue in the city.

Arts Café directors Nic Routh, Steven Allison and Jamie Clinton will launch Shears Yard this Thursday (29th August), a new independent kitchen and bar on Wharf Street in The Calls area.

The restaurant has created 20 new jobs and will cater for 60 covers and feature a separate bar and an outside seating area.

The kitchen team will be headed up by Jamie Clinton and Ash Close and will offer a seasonal and produce-led menu, with ingredients sourced from the local area. The bar will have a late license and will include local and international craft beers, cocktails and a carefully chosen wine selection.

The building where Shears Yard is located dates back to the 1800s and was formerly a rope and canvas manufacturers. It was most recently occupied by the seafood restaurant, Livebait.

Arts Café opened in 1994 and is highly-regarded as Leeds’ original café with a reputation for offering British cooking in a relaxed environment.

Nic Routh, director of Arts Café and Shears Yard, said:

“Following the success of Arts Café, we’ve been looking for a second site for sometime, but we were unable to find the right space up until now. Arts Café is known for its character and original features and we knew that any follow-up venture would need to match it. As soon as we saw the Shears Yard site, we immediately knew it was right and had the potential to be something great”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison .