East Village Cafe - Wednesdays @ Fudge

Those nice people at Illustrious PR invited us to attend the launch party of a new weekly event held @ Fudge on Assembley Street on Wednesday 31st October, here's what our reporters Emlyn Hagan & Catherine Tonge thought of the night.

"Well, the flier sounded very tempting: ‘Inspired by the East side of New York, ….brings a fresh weekly concept to Leeds where live music, excellent food and a laid back vibe are the norm’.

So off we went, hoping to find something new and worth the trek down to the Calls! We certainly weren’t disappointed….

I’ve never been to Fudge before (I’m more of a cosy-pub-pint of-bitter girl), but I really liked it. The usual chrome/wood/brick was made comfortable, interesting and airy by excellent use of the space created by three railway arches. I especially loved the very cool soft seats on wheels (I REALLY wanted to whizz around on one), projections of New York/70s footage and very funky disabled toilet complete with beautiful blue mosaic tiles. It looked like a tardis from the outside, I almost expected to come out into a different world! (One little problem – wonderful big, level access toilet, but no disabled sign! – I thought it was a normal one)

The DJ (Kev Meredith) in the dancefloor area played a lot of 60s type soul type stuff – I’m sorry but I have heard this same set a MILLION times already elsewhere in Leeds. I know this type of music is popular, but it’s just got too DULL for me – there’s such a huge amount of NEW stuff around! As we were leaving it had vastly improved and modernised to some laid back, funky, dancey type stuff though – shame I had to be up early on Thursday!

In the performance area we saw a very cool jazz-type band (Sugarbrew) – I don’t even like jazz but this was really cool, especially the flute! And, without sounding like an old granny, the PA wasn’t too loud, which was really refreshing and contributed to the nice atmosphere. A DJ was just lining up after the band so it looked like the flier was right! Tons of variety.

I think the atmosphere of this night will build, but tonight was a good start – relaxed, laid back and friendly. Well, apart from the worrying amount of self-consciously ‘cool’ folk, but that’s their problem. Generally it felt comfortable and lent itself to the theme of musical variety.

I’ll definitely be back and would recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of variety to their nights out. We were too late to sample the food, but I reckon this would be a great place for food and a chilled out evening.

Best thing about the night: A huge variety of music/goings on in quite a small space, yet still a totally un-‘squashed’ and laid back feel.

Worst thing: The bar prices, I know drinks are pricey at this end of Leeds – but £5 for a bottle of bud and a pint of bitter???????!!!!!!!" - Emlyn Hagan & Catherine Tonge