La Bottega Milanese in The Light Leeds closing down after ten years

La Bottega Milanese (LBM) became the first espresso bar outside of London where you could still drink an espresso at 11pm when it opened in The Light in May 2011.

Alex Galentino set up the first LBM in The Calls in 2009, inspired by the cafe culture in his native Milan, which he quickly outgrew.

His brand had a residency in Harvey Nichols for a period and there is still a store in Bond Court, as well as a successful online business.

A post on the LBM website read: "We always wondered what it would be like to close a store, as with The Calls and Bond Court, we poured the cliche’ “blood sweat and tears” with a good dose of Milanese heart too.

"When you painted the logo on the wall yourself, scrubbed every corner of the unit more than you ever did your own home - you never quite think of how it would feel to do the reverse one day.

"For the record, it sucks.

"It’s a numbing pain, one that you do not want to share and want to make just yours."

There has been "incredible worry, stress, anxiety and relentless work behind the scenes", the post read.

"You should be good enough to predict an outcome, you should come up with a plan whilst being a solid leader to those who look at you for reference, work, hope," it continued.

"You should, you should, you should - but this time you can’t.

"A solution wasn’t found, but what we have been able to do is to look after our own, fiercely.

"Our staff has been protected and looked after, right up to now, our suppliers fully paid bang on the 20th of March.

"We are immensely sad to see our team go, we do hope to be able to welcome back some at our Bond Court store when things start picking up again.

"In the meantime we are doing everything possible to place them in other indie businesses around the area."

The brand is "still strong", the post read, and loyal customers have been supporting the Bond Court store, which is open for takeaway.

There will be more seating options come Saturday, July 4

It added: "Our new webshop launched during the pandemic gaining a following and regular customers of its own.

"Our appeal is ever increasing, leading to the addition of a couple of exciting collaborations via our office supply and self serve kiosk offer which we will announce very soon.

"New trade accounts too, as well as chats with potential landlords, all positive signs that we need to focus on and gain encouragement from.

"Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward, and we are already on with it.

"Grazie, arrivederci and #BEMILANESE."

______________________

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. These are challenging times but the team at the Yorkshire Evening Post need your support more than ever in the weeks ahead.

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Inevitably falling advertising revenues will start to have an impact on local newspapers and the way we continue to work during this period of uncertainty. So the support of our readers has never been more important as we try to make sure that we keep you connected with the city you live in during this time. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. We need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Our team of trusted reporters are working incredibly hard behind the scenes- from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms - to look at how we can do this and your continued support to the YEP will help to protect its viability in the days and weeks ahead.

For more details on our subscription offers please visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk/YEP, email [email protected] or call us on 0330 4033004

Thank you

Laura Collins

Editor