Bigger and brighter – The Reliance’s new dining area

The Reliance's New Dining Room

Just by chance I happened to be in The Reliance on the big night that its new dining area was unveiled to its customers. Not that it was a big opening or anything, just a natural affair, but one that all the bar’s regulars were looking forward to and one that was much awaited by its proprietors – for ten years nonetheless. Anyway knowing the bar has a big following, out came my reporter’s notepad as I thought you might be interested. …..

Old favourite The Reliance (that big glass fronted pub with the red woodwork on North Street next to the Leeds Guide, in case you don’t know it) has had a refurb – well its dining room has anyway. It’s not one of those horrible refurbs like the one The Wrens has just had (and it hasn’t touched the front area of the bar that we all know and love), but its one that brings out the true character of the place.

A wall at the back of the dining room has been taken down and revealed three enormous windows which overlook the industrial, inner city centre setting below. The wall also hid a corridor so now the dining area is slightly larger. Planning issues had prevented the wall from being taken down earlier, but now ten years since its proprietors Becs Winlow and Joss Ainsworth took over, and the transformation is complete.

The result is that the new larger dining space has a really nice light. The colours from the red bricks outside contrast with the room’s bright, cool interior. It literally glows. Or it did when I was there. Like me, regular customers all cooed when they saw it. Really. It has the feel of a North London gastro pub or (the quieter top restaurant) at Salts Mill in Saltaire. The room has clean white walls with large blackboards, canteen style lightshades and wooden floorboards. That’s nothing new admittedly but perfect for this style of building. It’s not too cluttered with tables and not too noisy. The food being served up looked great, and now that I’ve been completely seduced by the setting I can’t wait to give it a proper try myself.

The Reliance
76-78 North Street
Leeds LS2 7PN
t. 0113 295 6060

5 comments

  1. The Reli is literally 2 minutes from where I work, have been a regular for over 3 years now and cant wait to see the new look after a self imposed non drinking January – the beer, food and staff there are always awesome.

  2. It looks lovely. I went in on Monday and didn’t spot it as I was in the bar, so looking forward to going back soon to see it. I LOVE everything about The Reliance,its my favorite place to go for a drink or food in Leeds.

  3. Lovely to have some comments back! And nice to see that a lot of people agree The Reli is one of the best eating/drinking places in Leeds.

Comments are closed.