Jigger & Jar Leeds: Inside Leeds' 'premium’ cocktail bar marking five years in Garforth
A “premium” cocktail bar in Leeds is marking its fifth birthday this year.
Jigger & Jar opened in Main Street, Garforth, on October 25 2019 as a table-service cocktail bar.
Now celebrating five years in the city, owner Claire Macklam and Dan Gore say the business, which specialises in hand-crafted cocktails, has made its mark on the suburb.
But it has been a long time in the making; the couple dreamed of owning their own cocktail bar years prior and this ambition led them to become franchisees for Surrey-based Beetlejuice Cocktails bars in 2016.
The couple would spend their weekends and evenings making cocktails from a converted VW campervan at music and food festivals, weddings, christenings and private parties all across the north of England – as well as maintaining full-time jobs during the week.
Three years later, Dan stumbled across an empty unit in Garforth. Just months later, Jigger & Jar welcomed its first customers through its doors.
Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Dan said: “From my perspective on the bar, Garforth was very traditional with lots of pubs and restaurants. There was nothing in the style that we envisaged.
“And when we opened, people were so happy and grateful that they could go somewhere where it's a bit more premium, shall we say.
“We gave them something more than just standard pubs or Wetherspoon etc. We gave people that option to have something a bit more premium - nicer cocktails, wines and things like that.”
Beyond the drinks, Claire said she thinks it's the personalised service that keeps people coming back.
“We go to the table and form a rapport with people, and because we are in a suburb, people just seem to come back,” she said.
“We've got quite a lot of regulars that we would almost call friends, rather than just guests.”
Dan added: “The guys who work with me on the bar, each one of them's probably been doing this for 10 years minimum.
“In general, drinking is quite difficult because a lot of people don't really know what they want to drink and they look for advice and guidance - and we can offer that.”
And while opening the bar was a dream come true, Dan said seeing how far the business has come has been the best bit.
He said: “Seeing the growth, how we've changed visually, from when it first opened to where we are now, whether that's getting new furniture or an outdoor area or creating a bar area, I think that's quite satisfying.
“When you launch new menus, you get a nice little buzz too.
“It's amazing when you open because you spend and invest so much time trying to get the doors open. But then obviously keeping and maintaining that level is the hardest part because you need to keep the consistency and keep the levels high.
“And I think that's the bit that's the most satisfying.”
Claire added: “We just have a passion for what we do. For the people that come through the door, we want to make sure they have a great experience every time they come to see us. We're grateful to everybody for their support.”
As part of the celebrations, Jigger & Jar kept the tequila flowing as customers enjoyed Mexican street food provided by York-based El Kantina last Thursday (October 24). It has also launched a selection of cocktails from the bar’s past five menus for a limited period on the special “Stars of the Jar’ menu.
Dan said: “I think a lot of the time the suburbs get forgotten. We look at a lot of, say, drinks competitions, things like that that highlight our industry and I always think that the suburbs always get overlooked and overshadowed.
”A lot more people are actually diverting to the suburbs, because there are places like that can offer quality that's just as good as the city centre, probably not even as expensive.
“You don't have to go to London, Manchester or Liverpool to find these really cool bars - that's what we tried to champion.”