Last week, the Czech community living in Leeds celebrated the opening of the Bohemia Bistro Community Café and the Czech Cultural Centre, which will act as an important hub for Czech nationals living in the city.
The newly opened Cultural Centre, which is located in the Harehills area of Leeds, will play a key role in supporting the 7,000 Czech nationals living in Leeds and the wider region. The Centre will also host lessons for the Czech School which has been running in Leeds since 2016.
The opening of the Café and Centre has been led by the Comenius School UK, a non-profit organisation based in Leeds which promotes and supports the education of Czech and Slovak children living in the UK.
The opening night was attended by the Czech Consul General in Manchester, Ivo Losman, and local councillors, Cllr Asghar Khan and Cllr Ronald Grahame, along with members of the local community.
Commenting on the opening, Chairman of Comenius Schools UK, Tomas Kotestecka said: “By opening the Czech Cultural Centre and Bohemia Bistro, the Czech and Slovak Community now have a space which can help support the integration of Czech and Slovak citizens.
“Comenius School in the UK is the only patriot organisation which acts on behalf of the Czech and Slovak community in the Leeds region.
“We recognise the enormous demands to support our all community projects, especially at this hard time, so it is important to act as one and work together with other communities and friends.
“Opening the Centre is a success which represents all our hard work, especially the help we’ve had from many volunteers and supporters. We are also grateful of the support from the Czech government and the Council and I would like to thank the Czech Consul General and Cllr Khan and Cllr Grahame for their support over the last 4 years.
“We Czechs and Slovaks, are extremely happy to finally have our own community spot in Leeds“
Leeds has strong links with the Czech Republic and is twinned with city of Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic.