Leaf on Bold Street was an independent tea house, restaurant, and cultural performance venue that operated from the grand two-storey hall at 65-67 Bold Street between 2010 and September 2025. Founded by siblings Natalie and Graham Haywood, the venue served for a decade and a half as one of Liverpool’s most influential independent meeting places, combining speciality loose-leaf teas with live music, creative events, and all-day dining.
What Leaf on Bold Street was
Operating inside a cavernous 1920s art deco building that had historically served as a car showroom, tea room and cinema, Leaf occupied a rare scale for an independent hospitality business. The ground floor was arranged with mismatched vintage armchairs, long wooden sharing trestles, industrial pendant factory lights, and an expansive service bar displaying dozens of glass apothecary jars filled with loose-leaf teas.
The venue functioned across multiple daily roles: a breakfast and remote-working café by morning, an all-day dining kitchen by afternoon, and a lively bar and live performance hall by night. An ornate timber staircase led to a first-floor events ballroom that hosted vintage clothes fairs, record sales, life drawing classes, poetry readings, and independent wedding receptions.
The loose-leaf tea collection and food
Tea was the founding passion of the business. Leaf curated more than 60 loose-leaf teas sourced directly from ethical growers across India, Sri Lanka, China, and Taiwan:
- Speciality Blends: Signature house infusions including Autumn Fire, Champagne Cassis, Moroccan Mint, Pure Wild Rooibos, and house-spiced Masala Chai brewed with whole spices and steamed milk.
- All-Day Kitchen: An extensive comfort food menu featuring Turkish eggs with garlic yoghurt, sourdough breakfast platters, mezze bowls, salt-and-pepper chicken burgers, and slow-braised beef chilli.
- The Pudding Club: A hugely popular monthly recurring event pairing five bespoke dessert courses with five complementary tea infusions.
The story behind 65-67 Bold Street
Natalie and Graham Haywood first launched Leaf as a small pop-up tea bar on Parliament Street in 2007, before moving to temporary spaces in the Baltic Triangle. In 2010, they secured the lease on 65-67 Bold Street, investing their savings to restore the building’s sweeping ceilings, exposed iron columns and parquet floors.
The opening in 2010 helped catalyse Bold Street’s modern renaissance as a pedestrianised independent quarter. In late August 2025, after fifteen years of continuous trading, the founders announced they were stepping down from the Bold Street flagship, selling the premises lease to a new hospitality operator and transferring all permanent team members under protected employment terms. The final day of service took place on Sunday 21 September 2025.
Where Leaf trades today
While the original Bold Street flagship is closed, the Leaf brand continues to trade across the Liverpool City Region through its sibling venues:
- Leaf on Smithdown: Located at 364-368 Smithdown Road in South Liverpool, retaining the brand’s signature tea list, all-day food menu, and neighbourhood acoustic music nights.
- Leaf West Kirby: Based on Black Horse Hill in Wirral, serving tea, brunch and dinners to the coastal peninsula.
- Little Leaf: An intimate espresso and tea bar based on Old Hall Street in Liverpool’s Commercial District.
Around central Bold Street
The former Leaf building occupies a prominent position on mid Bold Street, opposite radical bookshop News From Nowhere and gift boutique Utility, a short walk from Bold Street Coffee.
For currently open independent cafes and dining rooms in the area, explore our Ropewalks area guide and our guide to where to eat in Liverpool by area.
