IN THE mid-1990s Leeds was a clubber’s paradise, but the city’s late-night bars left a lot to be desired. Ged Feltham grew so tired of looking for a trendy hangout that he and a couple of friends decided to take matters into their own hands.
“We hoped all the twentysomethings wanted was to hang out in a cool bar. The options were so few we thought we would open one ourselves,” said Feltham.
They set to work and in 1996, with a total of £70,000 from a loan, savings and credit cards, started Oporto, a bar on a rundown road in the centre of Leeds. “It was a really rough area known for prostitutes but it has become the heart of the city’s nightlife now,” said Feltham.
Demand pushed him into expanding and today his holding company, Leelex, has six venues in Leeds and London. Another is planned for the capital later this year.
The business, which employs 145 staff, also has its own gin “museum”, the Ginstitute, in Notting Hill, west London. From there Feltham launched Portobello Road gin, which went on sale in 2011. It saw the biggest percentage sales increase of any premium gin brand last year — up 700% to more than £1m.
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Leelex, embracing the bars, restaurants and gin brand, reported sales of £6.2m and profits of £800,000 last year. Feltham expects sales to exceed £8.2m this year.
Feltham and his two older sisters were raised in Rayners Lane, northwest London, by their father, an accountant, and mother, a nurse. He attended Salvatorian College in Wealdstone and later St Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Harrow.
Feltham admits he was not the best school pupil. “I preferred to be working and had always been entrepreneurial,” he said. “At 12 I had a milk round and by the sixth form I was spending my holidays laying lawns.”
He gained a place at Leeds Metropolitan University to study economics and public policy and worked at its policy research unit after graduation.
By then Feltham had dreamt up his bar idea. He admits the new business struggled. “I was 25 and it was run on a wing and a prayer. The concept was right but it was undercapitalised and run by novices.”
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The venture also suffered from a change in licensing laws. The initial application for late opening was denied and, after an expensive appeal process, Feltham was forced to liquidate the business in 2000. The co-founders — John Hopewell and Joey Bates — moved on but he decided to risk a small amount of his money on relaunching the bar in time to catch the influx of new university students.
It proved an instant hit. “It was a bit of a joke bar but we took it from the gutter and it quickly became the busiest bar in the city,” he said.
With the business thriving and a new partner — Paul Lane — on board, Feltham sought inspiration for his next project. Early in 2001 he took a trip to New York and returned with the idea for Jake’s Bar, a venture named after the bartender, Jake Burger, who joined as a business partner.
Jake’s, based next door to Oporto, was an overnight success and financed the opening of an American diner, the Angel’s Share, in 2005.
The new venture meant Feltham could turn his attention to London. “I was ready for a new challenge and I was now able to split my time between Leeds and London.”
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Feltham packed his bags and headed for London but the diner idea didn’t survive the transition. Instead he opened another bar, the Portobello Star, in west London in 2008 — on the very day Lehman Brothers bank collapsed.
The business felt the repercussions. “People just stopped going out. In the first couple of weeks we turned over nothing — but we knew we had to keep at it.”
Their persistence paid off and the Portobello Star has established itself on west London’s drinking scene, thanks in part to the Ginstitute, housed above the bar, which enables people to learn everything about gin.
The brand’s strength is what inspired the foray into gin-making. “We had nothing to lose. We came up with a unique, handcrafted recipe and got 1,000 bottles made. I thought if nobody wanted to buy it we could just sell it in our own bars.” Feltham’s concern was unfounded and the product was quickly picked up by Selfridges and Waitrose. This year it was launched in America and Spain.
Feltham owns the majority share of the business — about 60% — with Lane and Burger holding the rest. “I’m supportive of those driving the business becoming equity partners,” he said.
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Feltham, 43, lives in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, with his wife, Kirstie, 41, and sons Sam, 12, Freddie, 8, and Jack, 5.
His advice to start-ups is to keep looking forward. “One of the skills of being an entrepreneur is being able to put a bad week behind you,” Feltham said. “You can’t change it; you can only change what happens next week.”