One of Leeds' longest established restaurants, Sous Le Nez, set to mark 30th anniversary with a new venture

Sous Le Nez, on Quebec Street, is one of the longest established restaurants in the city.

The French-style bistro was set up in a city centre basement in March 1991 by restaurateur Robert Chamberlain and executive chef Andrew Carter, who remain in charge.

A three-times winner of the Best Restaurant in Leeds award at the Yorkshire Evening Post's Oliver Awards, it quickly became the eating place of choice for the Leeds business community and visiting celebrities such as Alan Bennett, David Jason, Stephen Fry and Tim West.

Mr Chamberlain, who lives in Addingham recalls: “Those were the days when people would not park their car at night in Leeds, it was a totally different environment and there weren’t many restaurants in the centre of Leeds then.

“But, it was a time when the Leeds Development Corporation was set up. Things were starting to buzz and I could see it developing and it did amazingly.”

Always looking at new ways to run the business, Chamberlain and his head chef, Steve Thompson, decided to develop a Yorkshire-wide prepared meals delivery service, Sous le Nez Chez Vous with the imposition of the second lockdown which began in November.

It has proved so successful they are planning to expand into new premises to offer deliveries nationwide when Sous le Nez reopens.

Mr Chamberlain said: "We are hoping we will be open by April or May, I am assuming it will be that kind of time. In the meantime Steve Thompson came up with this idea about deliveries at home and we have started a new business, Sous Le Nez Chez Vous. At the moment we are looking for premises to start this as a stand-alone. A lot of food restaurants are doing food deliveries and won't be able to when they re-open because they won't have the space. We are looking for another area to continue this because I think there is quite a lot of mileage.

"I don't think everything will fall back into place like it was before the pandemic but there will be people living in the city centre, working full time and on Friday night will continue to buy it, some people will want to go out, some people are going to be nervous."

Mr Chamberlain, a former insurance broker, opened his first restaurant in Ilkley, the change of career inspired by his love of French food and wine. His Leeds bistro, a pioneer of the early-bird menu, is renowned for the length and scope of its wine list and he admits he is missing it.

He added: "I do miss it and we do have a lot of regular customers and people saying they are looking forward to us re-opening."

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