Running a takeaway in Leeds city centre is now a “waste of time”, fumed a fed-up pizza chef who feels it has become merely a destination for wild “stag and hen parties”.
James Potter, 39, is a manager at Pizza Freak in Kirkstall Road, Burley, where its been located for about 18 months after moving away from a venue in Union Square, a bar close to First Direct Arena.
He’s said that Leeds has become a “one day city” with little footfall as most people tend to only visit for a big shop on Saturdays – “if that!”. And offices are being used less and less frequently, making the weekends feel like an uphill “battle” with other takeaways fighting to keep their heads above water.
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The fees to operate in the city-centre are also much higher than in the outskirts and transport into the centre is difficult, affecting not only those put-off by the one-way system or having to pay for parking but also the delivery drivers, according to James.
Leeds City Council has fired back, stating city centre footfall has increased by ten percent since last year and have pedestrianised large parts of the city-centre partly in a bid to support the hospitality sector.
James said: “The city centre is a waste of time. You can’t get to the city centre as easily as you used to be able to, there’s not as much parking and the one-way system isn’t as useful as it used to be.
“There’s not as much foot-flow, it’s a one-day city now – if it’s even that. Since the pandemic, a lot of people now only work in the offices two or three days a week.
“Leeds has made itself into a town that is very much for stag parties and hen parties, things like that. I don’t even want to go into the city centre anymore.
“Being in a residential area actually gives us more scope to where we’re distributing to.”
He says areas outside the city-centre are beginning to thrive with new takeaways and little bars as “people don’t want to go into the city centre”. Pizza Freak has been making strong-ties with the local community and distributing takeaways is much easier from the outskirts of the city, rather than inside the city-centre, since a lot more people are home-working these days.
The large car park opposite at Cardigan Fields, where patrons can for free for a limited space of time, has also been advantageous to the pizza parlour.
A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “We’re proud of our efforts to support both the city centre and Leeds as a whole, making it one of the best places in the country to live, work, visit and spend time.
“City centre footfall for the year to date is roughly 10 per cent up compared to the same period in 2022. On Briggate alone, footfall cameras can be expected to record around 40,000 people coming and going on a typical Saturday in June.
“Briggate also offers many examples of the healthy state of Leeds’s retail scene and its wider economy, not least the ongoing multi-million pound redevelopments of the former Debenhams and House of Fraser stores.
“Elsewhere in the city centre, new retailers are coming to Commercial Street, Trinity Leeds and the Victoria Quarter, with plans also in the pipeline for a comprehensive redevelopment of the Core shopping centre. Leeds Kirkgate Market, meanwhile, is now attracting more than 400,000 visitors a month.
“The latest phases of our schemes to transform City Square and the main entrance to Leeds City Station are also under way, which together will provide a more attractive and pedestrian-friendly environment for local residents and visitors alike."
