Inside Moods: Hayley Moody on opening Leeds’ newest all-day venue at First White Cloth Hall

Some openings come with pressure. For Hayley Moody, co-founder of Moods, the new all-day venue taking shape inside First White Cloth Hall, that pressure is matched by something rarer — the feeling of landing somewhere genuinely special.

“This is a real pinch-me moment for sure,” she says, sitting in the original part of a building that traces its story back to the 1700s. First White Cloth Hall stands on what’s often called the oldest street in Leeds, and the history is written into the fabric of the place. Some of the beams overhead date back to the 1400s and, as Hayley tells it, are believed to have been stolen from a ship at the time. “They’re beautiful,” she says. “There’s so many lovely little quirks to it.”

Getting a listed building of this age ready to welcome guests was no small task. Hayley and the team worked closely with listed buildings officers and with Rushbond, the building’s owners, who Hayley credits with an “amazing job” of refurbishing it. “We didn’t want to damage any of their work,” she says — a restoration handled with real care on both sides.

The move brought Hayley’s studios together under one roof, in a space her own artists spotted and championed. “It was some of our artists who actually found this for us and said this would be amazing, it’d be perfect.”

As the name suggests, Moods is built around however you’re feeling. “You can come any time of the day, whatever your mood,” Hayley explains. Early risers can grab a coffee and a pastry on the way to work from 8am; from 10am, the day menu takes over, headed up by chef Craig Rogan. Later, cocktails and wine get poured alongside a run of bar snacks. Through it all, the aim is a room that feels “comfortable and friendly.”

That warmth is no accident. “I just love interiors, I love interior design,” Hayley says. “This is basically how I want my house to be.” High praise for a venue still finding its feet — and a promising sign of what’s to come as Moods opens its doors on one of Leeds’ most historic corners.