diff --git a/autoload/tabular.vim b/autoload/tabular.vim
index cbf3908..ec673c6 100644
--- a/autoload/tabular.vim
+++ b/autoload/tabular.vim
@@ -281,6 +281,8 @@ function! tabular#TabularizeStrings(strings, delim, ...)
     endfor
   endfor
 
+  let lead_blank = empty(filter(copy(lines), 'v:val[0] =~ "\\S"'))
+
   " Concatenate the fields, according to the format pattern.
   for idx in range(len(lines))
     let line = lines[idx]
@@ -302,7 +304,7 @@ function! tabular#TabularizeStrings(strings, delim, ...)
         let field = s:Center(line[i], maxes[i])
       endif
 
-      let line[i] = field . repeat(" ", pad)
+      let line[i] = field . (lead_blank && i == 0 ? '' : repeat(" ", pad))
     endfor
 
     let prefix = common_indent