Northern Monk have announced that they will be opening a brand-new Leeds city centre venue, taking over the former Assembly Underground.
The new venue, called The Northern Market, will feature a food market, beer hall, and a range of frozen cocktails, with a fully stocked bar pouring the freshest Northern Monk beers from 10 tap lines and on-site beer tanks, including Faith, the brewery’s flagship Hazy Pale Ale, as well as wines, and spirits.
Food vendors include Falafel Guys, Big Buns and Six Slice Pizza with more set to be announced.
Located on Great George Street in Leeds city centre, The Northern Market is the brewery’s second venue in Leeds after The Old Flax Store on Marshall Street, which has been home to Northern Monk’s original brewery and Refectory taproom since 2014. They also have a Refectory bar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Russell Bisset, Co-Founder of Northern Monk, said: “At Northern Monk we’re on a mission to create incredible beer experiences. If we do our job right, hopefully some of the best in the world. We’ve long harboured dreams of more Northern Monk venues where we can do just that, but the pandemic sadly pushed those back.
“Our two current tap rooms are based in former textile mills where we’ve really celebrated their heritage and role in the North. The Northern Market sees us take on a 140-year-old Grade II listed building, directly opposite Leeds Town Hall in the heart of the city’s civic quarter. We can’t wait to give the building a new lease of life as the Northern Market, alongside our food vendors, while acknowledging its history and place in the city.”
Falafel Guys is run by brothers and co-owners Abdalla and Ahmed Gouda.
Abdalla said: “When COVID pushed Assembly to close we felt that us and Leeds lost something special, and we wanted to make it our mission to bring the venue back to life. So, we partnered up with Northern Monk to proudly bring to Leeds the Northern Market. Having worked on this with the guys from Monk for some time now, we are confident we are going to deliver something amazing. The Northern Market is a space where people can gather, socialise and eat amazing food. When we started with Falafel Guys, our goal was to bring people together using food, and the Northern Market is an extension to that. What everyone can expect is great food, in a super welcoming and fun space.”
Ahmed added: “We can’t wait to open the doors and welcome everyone back and meet new people. We’ve genuinely missed all our customers, some of which became friends. We are very passionate about food, and we have some great ideas which we can’t wait to share and hear everyone’s feedback. There will be a great variety and quality of the vendors with something for everyone from wraps, salad bowls to burgers and pizzas with very familiar brands like Falafel Guys, Bigs Buns and the latest addition Six Slice Pizza. We have a few food surprises up our sleeve, but everyone can be sure we won’t disappoint and we will deliver one of best venues in Leeds.”
The Northern Market is due to open by early November, with more announcements on food vendors coming soon.
Follow @NorthernMarketLDS on Instagram for the latest updates.
Pictured: Ahmed Gouda (Falafel Guys), Russell Bisset (Northern Monk), Nick Pounder (Northern Monk), Abdall Gouda (Falafel Guys)
ENDS
About Northern Monk
Northern Monk is an independent brewery focused on creating the best beer experiences in the world. From two people in a parent’s cellar in 2013, to more than a hundred employees, Northern Monk is one of the North’s fastest growing drinks companies.
Northern Monk started life in a parent’s cellar with a £5,000 gift from a grandparent. Inspired by these origins and an ambition to give back wherever they can, they launched the For the North Foundation in September 2019, now renamed “Faith in Futures Foundation”. The Foundation will see £5,000 grants offered to businesses, charities and projects which aim to provide a genuine benefit to the communities they serve, or reduce environmental impact.
Northern Monk Patrons Projects is an initiative set up to foster collaboration, creativity, and community, whose objective is to collaborate with artists, athletes, and creatives across the North, by dedicating each Patrons Project to one Patron. Through the cross-pollination of ideas, Northern Monk treat each Patrons Project as a curated, immersive experience, with everything from the recipe and ingredients used, to the can design, carefully chosen to reflect each individual Patron. Each Patrons Project contains seven beers and sometimes non-beer items such as glassware or merchandise.
In March 2021, Northern Monk were ranked number 1 in the Ward Hadaway Yorkshire Fastest 50 list, achieving the titles of ‘fastest overall growing business’ and ‘fastest growing small business’. In May 2021 they were ranked 60th in The Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work For 2021 list.
Creativity, community and collaboration are at the core of Northern Monk’s business, they focus on working with the people that share their passion, and their values. They regularly collaborate with national and international breweries, businesses and causes to help strengthen the North for positive change.
Contact: Tim Ward, tim@northernmonk.com
Third-party news items that are posted on the Guild website’s news section come from press releases received by the Guild. These press releases are posted as they have been received and their publication on the Guild website is intended as an informational service provided to our members and website visitors. As such, the publication of a story from a third-party source is neither an endorsement of the content, nor its sender, by the Guild. For enquiries on any news item, please use the contact details that can be found at the bottom of each post.