Down on Kirkstall Lane sits a sad-looking abandoned pub that was once the life and soul of the party.
Kirkstall Lites has lain empty for years, but at one point it was packed to the rafters with locals enjoying a pint together and maybe even a boogie.
The purpose-built pub and bar first opened as a Tetley House in the 80s, replacing the then-recently demolished Abbey and Sovereign pub. By all accounts, it was very popular with locals and was generally ram-packed with drinkers on the weekends.
However, for various reasons including the rise in the popularity (and affordability)of drinking at home, the pub eventually closed its doors for good in 2004 having suffered a long decline in the years leading up to its final shuttering.
Having lain empty for more than a decade now, it’s become somewhat of a mystery to those who pass by its desolate, boarded-up exterior. Keen to discover what it was like inside, urban explorer Kyle Urbex recently made it inside.
His pictures give a unique insight into how the pub looks today, seventeen years later. From its heyday as a popular Tetley pub to the abandoned and decaying building it is today, Kirkstall Lites has definitely had a fall from grace.
Still, there are some remnants to be seen from its glory days – captured wonderfully by photographer Kyle, right down to the pictures still tacked onto the walls from years gone by.
It’s not the only pub to have suffered such a fate, with neighbouring boozers the George IV and a W.M. club also closing their doors in recent years.
local photographer, Thomas Ackroyd, has said that the pub as it is now “mirrors the rest of the area round there and is looking very tatty and now the metal boards of doom have replaced the wooden ones”
That said, when Kyle managed to make his way in he said he was “surprised” to find memories of happier days still tacked on to the walls.
Speaking to Leeds Live he also registered his shock that so many of its features remained intact, such as the “stage area where CJ’s music bar once hosted many happy and wild nights and bands.”
Another urban explorer, who runs the Facebook page Lost Places & Forgotten Faces, also visited the pub in June and shared his not-so-positive thoughts in a post on social media:
“The place is an absolute wreck. Fire damage, weather damage and chav damage have all collaborated to transform Kirkstall Lites into a crumbling death trap.
“Under all the destruction, I could just about make out what actually looked like a once fun and vibrant establishment for locals.
“Some photographic memories of happier times are still somehow clinging to the walls, and the brickwork in parts, especially the old fireplace, is actually holding up. It won’t be long now before this one is ripped to the ground. What a shame.”
Take a look around the pub by exploring Kyle’s images below:
Images provided courtesy of Kyle Urbex.
