Bar review: The Shed, Heaton's Court, Leeds

Tucked beneath a railway arch along from the now sadly long-gone Cockpit live music venue, The Shed almost stands as a reminder to the time of type of music that has otherwise been lost from this corner of the city centre.

You will find walls bedecked here with posters and framed vinyl records of rock stars from over the decades, from Jimi Hendrix to The Smiths and Nirvana to Led Zeppelin. It is a given then that the accompanying soundtrack to cocktail supping here is all about guitars.

Curiously, positioned in the void above an interior door is a mini drum kit in front of a wall of empty green Jägermeister bottles.

Open until late most nights - it’s closed on Sundays and Mondays - you can imagine sweaty long-haired folk having an impromptu head bang amid the dark wooden fittings and the exposed brickwork of the arch above their heads.

It’s a more laid back carry on at an earlier hour on this visit and musically I’m treated to the likes of Super Furry Animals, Echo And The Bunnymen and The Killers as I peer through the cocktail menu in the form of neat booklet atop a raised corner table, illustrated with a zeppelin on the front cover.

There are 30 cocktails including five homemade specialities which include a sugary sweet concoction that I sampled called Just Jammin, an ode to the king of reggae Mr Marley, which is made with a mixture of apricot jam, Hendricks gin and apricot brandy, finished with fresh cucumber, lemon and pineapple.

Normally priced £7.50, cocktails are on 2-4-1 from 5-8pm and a selection of other drinks are £3 during the same period.

There is a selection of international lager and cider on tap including Cobra and Thatchers, with wines and champagne also listed at the back of the menu.

Behind the bar are fridges well stocked with more international lager in bottles and the now obligatory premium cans of IPA. I tried one, an Easy IPA from Flying Dog Brewery, and finished with a canned Camden Hells lager. Spent up at £15.30 all in, I consider it a reasonable price for the drinks I chose.

Dimly lit with red mood lighting, with a large ‘shack’ style bar that has light bulbs strung from a ladder by rope, this is an unpretentious hang out where the seats are sturdy, the service slick and the music wall-to-wall rock. Not a suit-all venue, but one for which fans of this particular music scene should probably cherish when too many bars try to be all things to too many people.

Rating: 4/5.