The owners of Leeds’ first ‘listening bar’ say they are “amazed” by the reception they have received so far.
Holding Patterns, on Albion Street, opened just over a month ago and was inspired by Japanese listening bar culture which originated in the 1950s. It is described on their website as a place where customers can “Read, write and relax with quality music in an intimate setting”.
The bar, on the site of former radio station KMAH, boasts a top of the range audio system and also sells records. In the back customers will find ‘The Nook’, designed to be a quieter space for reading and writing, with second-hand books to read or purchase.
The business is a collaboration between Jack Simpson, owner of Hyde Park Book Club; Rob Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Music at Leeds Beckett University and Lynsey Harrison, founder of Renaissance Hair and Beauty, which operates above the basement bar. Along with the three directors the business currently employs a further four members of staff.
Simpson said: “We’ve known each other for a long time, and it became clear that we had the same values about why it’s good to ferment cultural spaces that people can gather in”.
When asked about the idea of opening a bar that takes emphasis away from simply drinking, and towards music and literature, Simpson said that an increase in mental health awareness in the last few years has meant that fewer people are getting together “just to drink”.
Amid significant bar and restaurant closures in Leeds over the last 12 months, there has been a rise in activity-based bars opening in the city. Nationwide chain Manahatta has closed two Leeds sites this year, which have been replaced by gaming bar NQ64 and Sixes, a cricket-themed establishment where patrons can try their hand at batting.
Simpson said that the internet is fuelling the move away from traditional drinking establishments into more specialised bars; “People have more and more niche understandings of who they are. Now, rather than just going to a pub because you live 500 metres away, you can search for the place that has exactly what you want”.
In the evenings, Holding Patterns host local DJs for intimate sets. Part-owner Rob Harrison, himself a DJ and producer, said that “The Leeds music scene needs a helping hand. Big organisations and festivals suck up all the talent which creates a vacuum at the bottom, so we want to give a step up for younger and smaller artists”.