Gary Usher has closed down his restaurant Burnt Truffle, in Heswall on the Wirral.
In a post to X, the chef and restaurateur explained that since opening in 2015, he’d struggled to make the business work.
This was despite visits and glowing write ups from the likes of national critics like Jay Rayner and The Independent’s Lisa Markwell.
Usher, who also owns Hispi and Kala in Manchester, under his Elite Bistros banner, explained that all the businesses bills had been paid, along with the staff, though some had been made redundant.
“I have a 10 year lease, and that lease has come to an end. I could have renewed that lease, but the honest truth is, I’ve never been able to make it work here,” he said.
“I’ve been quite vocal about how difficult the government have made it over the last few years, but ultimately, I’ve never been able to make it work here. So the best business decision for us is to close.
“So we’re closing Burnt Truffle from today. We paid all our bills. So VAT is paid. All our suppliers are paid. Our rent is paid. We have, unfortunately, had to make people redundant with the closure of this business. And obviously they’ve been paid. Everybody has been paid.
“It’s a sad day. It really is, you know, when I think back to when we opened here, the likes of Jay Rayner and Lisa Markwell were coming, and we got two [AA] Rosettes quite quickly too. We were the first crowd funded restaurant in the UK with non-investment crowdfunding. So that started our journey with crowdfunding, actually.
“So what does it mean for the business moving forward? Well, we carry on. We just keep going. We keep trying, and we keep innovating to get through these tough times and and that’s it, really. Thank you to everyone that came. Thank you to all the team. Thank you to all the guests. We’ve loved being in Heswall. We’ve loved being in Burnt Truffle, but that’s the end.”
He added that anyone with in-date vouchers for the restaurant will be able to use them at any of the other restaurants in the group, or be offered a refund.
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