Nam Song Leeds: Vietnamese restaurant on New Briggate confirms permanent closure in 'incredibly tough times'

Nam Song, in New Briggate, closed suddenly earlier this month – with a note on the door reading: “Closed today for maintenance, sorry!”. The restaurant has now announced it has permanently closed its Leeds site as the hospitality industry faces “incredibly tough times”.

The Vietnamese coffee house, cafe and restaurant was founded in Sheffield by two students who fell in love with Vietnam during their gap year. They opened the New Briggate site in summer 2021, after spending lockdown fitting out the site.

The restaurant in Sheffield remains open as usual.

Posting on Instagram today, the Nam Song team said: “We’ve got some sad news guys. Unfortunately we’ve had to take the incredibly difficult decision to close our site on New Briggate in Leeds.

"We spent the whole of a covid lockdown fitting out the site ourselves with a whole host of DIY skills learnt straight from YouTube and a boat load of Orange paint. Since then we’ve had a truly wonderful time the past few years sharing our lanterns, phin filters and Vietnamese goodness with you lovely lot in central Leeds.

"However, the world is a different place to that which it was when we opened. Times are incredibly tough right now for everyone, especially hospitality, and due to a number of factors it became clear it was for the best to shut up shop on New Briggate.

"Năm Sông Broomhill in Sheffield is unaffected by this and will continue to operate as normal. Thanks for all your support in Leeds over the years.”

The announcement is the latest of a number of business closures in Leeds this summer. Burger chain Honest Burger confirmed the permanent closure of its Leeds site earlier this month, just a year after it was opened, due to a “change in customer demand” in the city.

Outdoor venue Chow Down closed on August 6 due to the impact of the cost of living crisis, while the Michelin-recommended CORA in Boston Spa closed at the end of July. Its patron chef Liz Cottam said “challenging times” for the hospitality industry had been a battle that the restaurant was “unable to overcome”.