Bar boss thanks public after new licence granted

Blayds Bar in Leeds has been granted a new licence

The manager of a popular gay bar has thanked the LGBTQ+ community for its support after the venue was granted a new licence.

Blayds Bar, said to be one of the oldest gay venues in Leeds, held a licence which lapsed when the company operating it was wound up.

It was granted a new licence at a hearing on Tuesday after councillors decided it would not add to alcohol-related disorder in the city centre.

Duncan McCallum, who has run the bar for 18 years, said: “If it wasn’t for the LGBTQ+ community getting behind us we would not have had this result today.”

Mr McCallum was praised by 47 customers who wrote letters of support and witnesses who spoke at the hearing, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

There was applause from about 20 supporters at the hearing when the licence was granted.

Customer Gillian Dobson said: “Duncan’s bar is the safest bar I have ever visited.

"It is very much a community space for young and old.”

The hearing was told the company operating under the previous licence was dissolved following the death of Mr McCallum’s husband, Robert Payne, in 2021.

The venue had been operating under temporary event licences.

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