Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, Leeds

Official site of Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen - www.belgravemusichall.com

Official site of Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen - www.belgravemusichall.com

The upstairs has been comprehensively described by Pub Signman, so I'll tell you about the main bar downstairs. It's best described as trendy, with stripped back decor, retaining some tatty old tiles and bare brickwork with 1930s deco windows. There's eclectic furnishing ranging from some benches in industrial 6x2 planking in the middle to car seat style booths down the side. The counter is surrounded by Sterling board and there's a pizza kitchen, completing the set of must have trendy accessories is the pile of board games. Six pulls provide a decent cask choice and the line of keg fonts are a mixture of the national and the craft.

This large, three storey bar began life in 1934 as a nursery school called Leeds Children's Palace but now acts as a multi purpose venue with two bars, two kitchens and a pretty decent live music venue, the last of which tempted me to visit after I noticed a band I'd been listening to were playing there on the night of our PuG crawl. The place is unbearably hip, with my Friday night visit seeing the city's trendy young things descend en masse, filling up the seemingly endless rows of canteen style benches opposite the main bar and the comfier button backed chairs and sofas under the large floor to ceiling windows. There is an emphasis on bare floorboards and exposed brickwork in the bar's styling which gets a bit boring but didn't seem to bother those who'd turned out for the evening. Whilst the bar area was also busy, I was at least able to get served relatively quickly, but I soon tired standing around waiting for the bands to come onstage after the long crawl around the city earlier in the day. The music hall is on the first floor and was a lot bigger than I'd expected with a sizeable stage and a bar in the rear corner. As the gig progressed, the room never really filled up, but there were enough people in to generate a bit of atmosphere which just about kept me going into the small hours. Comedy, movies and art exhibitions are also on the roster of events and it certainly seems like the owners are making the best possible use of the venue's versatility. There is a roof terrace which I didn't get round to visiting, but a quick look at the website shows that it looks like a good spot for summer drinks and offers decent views over the city. There were two cask ales available on my visit - Theakston Lightfoot and Kirkstall Pale Ale (£3.00) - and the latter was in pretty good condition. Craft keg seems to be more in favour though, and an impressive number of fonts offered brews from the likes of Roosters, Five Points, Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn. I seem to recall that there was no ale on the top bar necessitating trips downstairs throughout the gig to replenish my empty glass. This place has a lot to offer and whilst not really trying to attract a wide range of customers, it caters very well for its target market and if I was ten years younger and living in Leeds, I'd probably regularly visit. As a live music venue, I thought it worked well and would recommend a visit if something catches the eye.