Eats

Chow Down to close doors permanently and leave Temple Arches

Such sad news.

Clementine Hall - 27th July 2023

The outdoor food and drink venue have sadly announced that they will be closing their doors permanently as of next week.

One of Leeds’ most talked about open-air bar concepts has just announced that they are sadly closing down.

The team have said that due to the cost of living crisis, the business is no longer sustainable to run.

Their last day trading will be on Sunday 6 August, but after that Chow Down will be departing from Temple Arches.

The Temple Arches venue served punters of Leeds fantastic food and drink throughout the seasons, and we are absolutely heartbroken to see it go.

Many will remember the fantastically chaotic drag brunches, the delicious array of food on offer and look back on nights watching the sun go down through the arches with fond memories.

A statement from the Chow Down team read: "It’s with very heavy hearts we announce Chow Down will be closing its doors for summer on Sunday 6th August and departing from Temple Arches.

"What started out as a 10 week pop-up in response to the Covid restrictions of summer 2020, morphed into a three year successful residency and became a key event destination in Leeds. However, unfortunately after being impacted by the cost of living crisis, changing consumer behaviour for food and drink offerings and increases in all costs involved with running a temporary site, the business is sadly not sustainable to continue in its current format.

"We have achieved so many things at the current site, including helping to support the regeneration of the Temple district alongside our partners and site developer CEG, who we are hugely grateful to for giving us the opportunity to launch Chow Down and hope to work together again on fresh concepts for Temple Arches in the future."

The statement continued: "While this is the end of Chow Down in its current guise, we are exploring new city centre opportunities and aim to relaunch a new concept in Leeds in the near future.

"We would like to say a huge thank you to our team, traders, DJs, performers, contractors, and most importantly our lovely loyal customers for supporting us. It would mean the world to us if you could join us for the last ever two weekends at Temple Arches for a final cocktail, beer, dance and some top notch scran. Chow for now, CD team xx"

Featured image - Chow Down