SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Anyone remember this place? Saturdays YEP had a letter from a woman saying she used to run it but no one remembers it. She says it was 'in the Arndale Centre' and was 'one of the most luxurious around'. No one I know (covering 1970's onwards) remembers it, so perhaps it was in the 60's, though not even sure the Arndale was there then?

LS13 wrote: Anyone remember this place? Saturdays YEP had a letter from a woman saying she used to run it but no one remembers it. She says it was 'in the Arndale Centre' and was 'one of the most luxurious around'. No one I know (covering 1970's onwards) remembers it, so perhaps it was in the 60's, though not even sure the Arndale was there then? I vaguely remember going there in the early 70's but here is the proof it exisisted from the 1970 Phone Book And here from Leodishttp://www.leodis.org/display.aspx?resourceIde ... SPLAY=FULL

There was club at the alma road end in the early 70s.

LS13 wrote: Anyone remember this place? Saturdays YEP had a letter from a woman saying she used to run it but no one remembers it. She says it was 'in the Arndale Centre' and was 'one of the most luxurious around'. No one I know (covering 1970's onwards) remembers it, so perhaps it was in the 60's, though not even sure the Arndale was there then? The Cigany (note the spelling) Grill was a feature of the Headingley Arndale Centre back in the 60s. Towards the Alma Road end of the Centre it was a regular haunt of several Leeds Utd. players back then. I'm sure it's had mentions here on earlier threads on SL. It's also covered on Leodis. Cigany means gypsy (I think), JD    

The Cigany, here it is at the Arndale

buffaloskinner wrote: The Cigany, here it is at the Arndale Great picture.....look how neat and tidy the pavement and road are....no litter floating about,roadworks,potholes or chewing gum on the pavement slabs !

jdbythesea wrote: LS13 wrote: Anyone remember this place? Saturdays YEP had a letter from a woman saying she used to run it but no one remembers it. She says it was 'in the Arndale Centre' and was 'one of the most luxurious around'. No one I know (covering 1970's onwards) remembers it, so perhaps it was in the 60's, though not even sure the Arndale was there then? The Cigany (note the spelling) Grill was a feature of the Headingley Arndale Centre back in the 60s. Towards the Alma Road end of the Centre it was a regular haunt of several Leeds Utd. players back then. I'm sure it's had mentions here on earlier threads on SL. It's also covered on Leodis. Cigany means gypsy (I think), JD     From a Slavic language, cigan (“Gypsy”), Serbo-Croatian plural C?gani (“Gypsies”).

Shows very clearly how much street "furniture" we have these days.

And how much better the Armadale looked without the brick cladding (now removed).

The Cigany opened in the mid sixties when the Headingley Arndale was built (with a 10 pin bowling alley, the second only one in Leeds after the Merrion).
It was owned by a Hungarian man called Albert Nemeth who ran it with his wife Kat and helped by his son Thomas. The chef was called Kiss (pron. Kish) who was also a true Hungarian.
After The Cigany, Albert opened a cafe/bistro - The Piazza - at the city end of Woodhouse Moor opposite what is today The Library pub. He later opened The Paprika at Hyde Park and eventually The Alpha Grill opposite the university steps.
After he retired Thomas took over the business until he too retired and sold The Alpha, which is now Charco's.
Albert died a few years back, around 2016 I seem to remember, and sadly Thomas also died in May 2018.
They were all quite some characters!