The Highland Laddie: New Leeds pub features in esteemed Good Food Guide's 'First Look' section

The Highland Laddie on Cavendish Street near Burley opened its doors last month to much acclaim after being taken over by the team behind city centre restaurant The Empire Cafe.

A retro feel has been maintained in the former Tetley’s pub and the bar serves a smashing mix of “cask ales, bar oysters, lager and stout, [and] open fire cooking”.

Since opening the pub has had a visit from The Good Food Guide, which is an esteemed guide that has been published in the UK since 1951.

A ‘First Look” feature piece has been posted on the website, saying that the pub is “leading the charge” when it comes to new openings that lean into nostalgia.

Food writer Thom Archer explained that the pub has been opened in the site of what was once The Highland, a traditional old boozer that closed two years ago. The pub, which opened in 1925, was a favourite among many over the years including those working nearby and the students that moved to the city.

The write-up reads: “It’s this slice of the pub’s storied history that owners Sam Pullen and Nicole Deighton drew on for inspiration in aesthetic and spirit as well as name. 

“When we spoke with Sam a few months ago mid-renovation he told us their intention was for The Laddie to be a neighbourhood pub: an informal, inclusive place where people could turn up on their own or with friends, speak to familiar faces at the bar or keep themselves to themselves.”

It continues: “Stepping into it now, it feels exactly like that. Billed as ‘a drinkers pub with dining room’ The Highland Laddie is a pub of two halves – turn left into the bar and be greeted by brass fittings twinkling in the sun and the red glow of a vintage Guinness tap box on the bar, echoing the red and black colour scheme of the textured-wallpapered walls and ceiling.

“Small round tables line the triangular room where you can fit about four people and their pints, empties, and a couple of bar snacks (possibly six if you’re close acquaintances, or one of them is telling a particularly good story).”

Thom also highlights the “cosy dining room”, which is fitted with a log burner in the fireplace, and the food menu, which is “rooted (sic) in classic British tradition, albeit remastered in glorious technicolour”.

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Shout outs are given to the surf and turf, “traditional clingfilmed ham bap” and the burger, which “dribbles juice down your arms and spits in the face of smashburger supremacy”.

The feature reads: “If it’s just a light bite you’re after, bar snacks include Vindaloo devilled eggs, house-made sausage rolls, prawns served by the half-pint, and oysters on the half-shell: displayed irresistibly on ice at the end of the bar with one member of staff dedicated to shucking and topping each with a bright pink pickled baby onion ‘pearl’.”

It also highlights the “due care and attention” given to the drinks selection, with four local casks kept on the go and Guinness.

“Their own ‘Laddie Lager’ Belgian Pilsner definitely isn’t a rebadged Becks Vier like many Pubs ‘own’ lagers”, it reads. “And they’ve even gone full Life on Mars and sourced the UK’s best-selling keg beer of the 1970s, Double Diamond.

“There's a genuine commitment shown here to preserving The Highland's legacy while bringing it into the modern pub era. It’s easy to hang an old mirror in a pub and call it a day, but by showing real attention to detail and a dedication to Sam and Nicole’s vision, even two weeks in The Highland Laddie feels established, lived-in, and already well on its way to becoming a neighbourhood pub for the community. “