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Rod McPhee: Rescue mission
It may have started out at La Censa, or Square on the Lane, or The Birdcage, but once upon a time a night out on Boar Lane would all too often end in a casualty department.
Of course, it wasn’t the fault of the owners of these bars, but there was no two ways about it: this notorious night time thoroughfare often attracted the worst kind of people.
It was once one of Leeds’s biggest hotspots for drunken disorder – and I’m not talking anecdotally here.
Just over five years ago West Yorkshire Police revealed the venues which they were called out to most frequently. Two or three of the top 10 were on Boar Lane – accounting for about 160 of the 750 violent incidents reported across the entire city centre that year.
That’s a lot of tumult for one street.
Regeneration
Things have definitely improved since then, partly as a result of efforts between bar owners and police. When the force introduced new schemes to tackle unrest in the heart of Leeds last year Boar Lane wasn’t considered one of their top three priorities which, on some level, is reassuring.
But you can’t help but wonder whether things improved because so many of the bars closed down in the area.
The Majestyk, Jumpin Jacks, La Censa, The Birdcage and Square on the Lane have all served their last bottles of alcopop, albeit for different reasons.
One reason is the regeneration of chunks of the city centre which looks set to restore Boar Lane to its former glory, because not so very long ago it was still somewhere boasting a greater mix of places for civilised eating, drinking and shopping.
Thankfully, the new Trinity development is remodelling the strip of hidden shop/bar frontage which doubled up as numerous bus stops on Boar Lane. (This invariably hid a multitude of night time sins.) The retail and leisure project has also led to the adjacent block, the one which used to house Square on the Lane, being regenerated as well.
Let’s hope that when the north side of the street is unveiled next year it’s either dedicated to shopping or at least offers somewhere less towny to socialise.
The renovation project that was the Majestyk is a perfect example of change for the better.
Now, it’s easy to say that this kind of change freezes out the ordinary people of Leeds in favour of your Macbook carrying, wasabi pea-loving wannabe, etc etc. But I’m not sure teenagers and twenty-somethings who go out these days are quite as divided down those prescriptive lines like they used to be.
They may be drinking more than they used to and they may still get a little lairy, but these days less and less people think a good night out involves some kind of inebriated physical or sexual assault.
So rather than bemoan, let’s rejoice at the changes to Boar Lane. It’s not an exercise in gentrification, it’s a rescue mission.
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Weather for Leeds
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
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Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
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Liam123
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 10:33 AMYes Leeds city centre is so much better, no crime, no bars, no nightlife, no atmosphere, just like a big graveyard, it is great. All the bars mentioned in the list used to be an attraction, for people coming to the city, just as people from Leeds go to Newcastle, Manchester, etc for the nightlife, now it's all gone and so have the people and so has the money.
LPP2012
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 12:47 PMLa Censa?? Whats on your mind then McPhee??? It was Bar Censa, the other place sells knickers n that.
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