A second restaurant has announced it is to close in Derry city centre, just over a year since another vacated the same premises.
The Social Studio restaurant on Bishop Street has announced its closure, citing the rising costs of "goods, electric, wages etc".
The news comes just 15 months after another restaurant at the same Bishop Street premises, BRØN, announced it was closing down for similar reasons.
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BRØN announced the closure of its Bishop Street restaurant - while keeping the Bron 2 Go and Bron Bay premises up-and-running - in January last year.
At that time, the owner of the Derry business said: "The business survived Covid and re-opening after Covid, but can no longer survive the rising costs and tight margins that small businesses are facing and being crippled by."
Now, just over a year later, the current occupiers of the same premises on Bishop Street have announced they're also being forced to shut up shop due to rising costs.
"This isn’t one of our usual posts but one that we unfortunately need to make," Social Studio wrote in a statement published on social media this week.
"Due to the rising costs of goods, electric, wages etc, Social Studio will unfortunately be closing. This is not a decision that was made lightly, in fact quite the opposite. We have put our hearts and souls into Social Studio for the past year and I’ve crossed paths with many wonderful people."
The statement continues: "I want to thank everyone that came to visit and our wonderful staff but for me right now, it just wasn’t the right timing unfortunately. I’ve had to put things into perspective and this resulted in coming to the conclusion of closing Social Studio.
"Hospitality is a tough industry, one that I can say I’ve tried but now that this book is closed, I want to urge anyone to support local and small businesses where and when possible. It might not be a big deal to you but it’s a game changer for them."
The statement added: "Those with vouchers, please email [email protected] so we can inform you regarding these. Adios people and many thanks again x".
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