Oporto, Neon Cactus and other Call Lane bars to reopen in Leeds for outdoor drinking and eating - and no booking is required

It comes as businesses prepare to reopen all outdoor hospitality venues and non-essential retail stores on April 12, in line with the Government's roadmap out of lockdown.

Leeds Council has laid new paving and widened pavements.

It has also closed the street to traffic, as part of a £25 million makeover in the area around the Corn Exchange.

Already making the most of their new surroundings is local bar and restaurant group Akito Ltd, who own Oporto, Neon Cactus & Power Corruption and Lies.

The group will be opening three of their four sites for outdoor drinking and dining from Monday.

Rain covers and outdoor heaters will be provided.

All sites will be fully seated, offering table service exclusively and logging track and trace details for all guests.

Bookings won’t be required for the three Akito venues, leaving space for walk-ins of groups of up to six.

Ross Millar, Operations Manager, Akito Ltd said: “Down on call lane we are chomping at the bit to welcome people back for al fresco drinking and dining in our new and extended outside area.

With extra seating available and no booking necessary the summer is going to look beautiful!

We have worked really hard over the past months to ensure complete safety for our guests is achieved with all the necessary covid procedures in place.

Having done weeks of extensive research and development on new food and drink offerings in our venues we are super excited for people to come down and sample our creations.

It’s been such a tough year all round for everybody, I personally feel a real sense of excitement and emotion for the coming months when we are able to get back to what we know and see some lovely faces.”

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said:“Leeds City Council has worked with hospitality businesses across the city as they prepare to welcome back customers from 12th April.

"Large parts of the city centre have been transformed over the past year, with some of our key streets and spaces now offering wider footways, more room for outdoor seating, and newly planted trees”

Following their reopening, the bars plan to make use of the new and long awaited outdoor space to host BBQ’s, events, bank holiday specials and lots more over the summer months.

Oporto, Neon Cactus & Power Corruption and Lies will be open from 12pm to 12am, seven days a week.

Food will be served until 10pm.