New 10,000 sqft venue ‘Testbed’ to open in Leeds

Articles, News // Mon 11 Jan 2021 - 18:16pm

The hospitality and events industry suffered a great deal during 2020 at the hands of the pandemic. It is 2021 and it is still uncertain when and how the industry will bounce back. Before the pandemic, venues would max out capacity. The big issue now being with ‘social distancing’. Venues that would normally have a capacity of 500 would have to reduce host 50, which would be financially unprofitable. However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for the event industry.

 ‘Testbed’ is 10,000 sqft of empty industrial space located in Leeds city centre and is designed to accommodate for a large number whilst maintaining social distancing.  Founders James Abbott-Donnelly and Laura Wellington, who are also behind other venues Duke Studios and Sheaf St, claim they are working to provide Leeds with a large, open space, with the flexibility to cope with the unexpected. The venue is going to be utilised for a variety, from theatre to conferences, to sporting events. Socially distanced events at Testbed will commence in later 2021.

View Testbed website here.