The entrance to Sela, with a glimpse of Wax Bar right next to it.
Sela was another delightful surprise for us — one of those places we’d never got round to visiting, but the quest led us there and we were very happy for it!
First things first — the beer. We were happily met with a great selection of craft beers from the fridge: Flying Dog, Brooklyn, Goose Island, Anchor, Founders and Coopers. The fun continued on keg with Jaipur, Great Yorkshire Brewery, Sam Adams, Erdinger and Brooklyn Summer Ale. A couple of Belgians like Chimay Blue and Vedett also made an appearance. We didn’t even have to shield our eyes from any bad beers like Budweiser or Heineken, because there simply weren’t any! The bartender was very friendly and even gave us one of our pints for free after we had to wait a long time for the tap to co-operate.
Follow the red lanterns!
Sela prides itself as one of Leeds’s premier music venues, and I found the vibe to be reminiscent of a Greenwich Village jazz club. The lighting provides a constant warm red glow from the moment you walk in the door and down the stairs, creating an intimate atmosphere between you and your fellow patrons. They put on a mix of live bands and DJs throughout the week, so check the Twitter feed for updates. (Their website events page is drastically out of date.)
More red lanterns at the bar! (Oh, and a lot of good beer!)
They serve a range of pizzas for reasonable prices, plus a few sides to make sure you won’t go hungry. And if you run out of things to talk about there are handful of board games available to play. (Nothing to shout about by our standards, but that’s another can of tuna.)
The cosy stage area. More mood lighting.
Sela is certainly a place we’ll be back to — whether we’re looking for a quiet place to have a nice beer after work or if we’re itching to dance the night away! (I’ll leave it up to you to guess which mood strikes us more often.)
Tags: coffee, dance floor, food, live music
We're on a quest to review every pub and bar in Leeds city centre. After 199 reviews we've finally caught up and now we're waiting for more to open!
Always reliable and seemingly overlooked, Sela has been a good choice for years. A decent range of drinks for most tastes, well made pizza and a genuine basement bar feel thanks to the floor and windowed staircase. It isn’t the pinnacle of any bar scene but it’s just a nice place all around. Warning- still can get very rammed and hot on a Friday and Saturday night at peak times.