North Bar launches co-working space with bottomless coffee and after work pint

It comes after the Leeds bar group reported a 50 per cent drop in trade due to the 10pm hospitality curfew.

-> Bars and breweries in Leeds warn of “catastrophic” impact of 10pm curfew after seeing sharp drop in salesTo minimise those losses, the bar group came up with the initiative to create a space for home workers.

The idea is that the New Briggate bar will be used as a co-working space from 11am to 5pm.

It costs £15 to work there for the day but includes a table of your own, bottomless coffee, free WiFi and access to power sockets.

Workers will even get a Dim Sum lunch included in the price and a pint of North Brewing Co beer when the shift is finished.

The bar is Covid secure and has track and trace, sanitiser on every table and provides table service.

A spokeswoman for North Bar said: "We are really feeling the effect of the curfew and the city centre has been particularly quiet.

"Sales at North Bar have dropped by over 50% when compared to the same week last year.

"We recognise that working from home on your own can be very isolating, and that having a safe space to hot desk in can have a massive impact on your mental health so we have launched Work from North.

"We’ve had a great reaction to this since posting about it on social media.

"At this difficult time it means the world to us that Leeds is coming out to support its independent venues, and rethink the role that a pub can play during the pandemic."

The Work from North scheme started on Wednesday, October 7.

Staff have thanked people for supporting the scheme so far and the bar in general during the difficult times.

They said: "Thank you for all your support this week: working from North, popping in for a coffee, or having some beers. Love you Leeds."

North Bar and North Brewing Co set up a beer delivery service during the nationwide lockdown.

They sold more than 35,000 cans of beer to households in Leeds alone.

North Bar first opened in 1997 by by John Gyngell and Christian Townsley.

The successful bar was soon followed by Alfred bar, Preston bar, Further North, North Bar Harrogate and North Bar Social.

Brewery North Brewing Co was founded in 2015.

The brewery has won numerous awards including; ‘Overall Keg Champion Beer’ at the SIBA Independent Beer Awards in 2018, ‘Best Brewery Pub Company’ at The Publican Awards in 2017 and 2018 and ‘Best UK IPA in 2017’ in the Imbibe ‘IPA Challenge’ for Transmission.

The Brewery taproom is currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Leeds City Tap in Sovereign Street, is open from 12pm to 10pm daily.

Drinking in is available and guests can also purchase food from Little Bao Boy from Tuesday to Monday from 12pm to 9.30pm.

People who do not want to drink in can purchase drinks from the bottle shop.