North Taproom: Sovereign Street — Restaurant in Leeds

Came in relatively early (between 4-5pm) with a friend on Friday, there was plenty of seating free. The plan was to have a pint or two and wait for another person to join us before ordering some of the Bao there.

Unfortunately the plans changed into a swift exit.

I'd barely drank half a pint before the bar person came over to our seats and asked us to order another drink. I replied politely that we will get another at the bar, making sure my glass was visible to help them understand I wasn't keen on being double parked.

Upon that interaction we had bar staff cleaning around us passive aggressively immedietely. We were barely in the place half an hour. As someone that runs a business in Leeds and constantly scouting for places to take staff and clients for drinks I felt embarrassed for my friend, extremely self concious and unwelcome when this happened.

So we decided to change plans and not have another drink or buy food there, and tell our third person to meet us somewhere else. We grabbed food at one of the independants in Trinity Kitchen instead and went to some of the more accomodating bars in the city centre.

I'll probably give this place one more shot, people have bad days. Be prepared to drop a lot of money here though, the beer is expensive but they have...

Not a great experience. Shame as I'd been looking forward to a visit.

Positives are the beer selection is great. Some really good stuff.

Negatives are the staff can't cope but not because of the current climate. Service is really slow to the point of they take your order then don't bother bringing the drinks. Maybe they should talk to each other?

Ordering food is a shambles. Current residents Little Bao Boy are too small to be in a place like this. First you can order food, then you can't. Then you can. Then you can't. You get the gist.

None of the staff know what's going on and it's really frustrating to be told someone will take your order and then by the time they come back (see above - service slow) they are not taking orders. For what it's worth, it looks good. Shame I didn't get to sample it.

Really...

Used to be one of the craft beer bastions but it feels like each time I have visited over the past few months, it has evolved more and more into a generic Leeds bar. Firstly, they don’t seem to pour North beer anymore- replaced by global beer brands like Erdinger and Sierra Nevada. Not a single NEIPA on tap, which is a stalwart go-to for craft beer drinkers. Clientele seems to have changed - packed with party-night groups done up to the nines. Maybe this is testament to the gradual death of serious craft beer spots in Leeds- either too expensive or just replaced with commercial crowd pleasers for the weekend binge drinkers. It’s a shame, but we seem to have lost another one in North. The baos are class mind! Just need a beer offering...