MANGOTSFIELD pub and restaurant the Grapevine Brasserie is closing after six years of trading.
The owners of the business said rising costs and a lack of custom since the pandemic were behind the decision to cease trading on May 5.
The news was announced via a post on the Grapevine’s Facebook page, which said it was being made “with a heavy heart”, adding: “We would like to thank each and every one of you for showing your support over the years, but with the ever growing cost of goods, consumables and a lack of custom, we have not been able to fully recover since opening after Covid.”
Customers who have vouchers for the business are being encouraged to come and use them while the pub remains open, with refunds also available until closing day.
Staff also apologised to customers with bookings after the closing date, saying: “We are extremely sorry for having to do this but trust us when we say this is the last thing we wanted to do.”
The Grapevine is part of a Downend-based family business run by Mike and Denise Hoare and their children Mitch, Jade, Vinny and Baily.
The family also run the Mokka cafe, bar and lounge in Downend and another Mokka outlet in Keynsham.
They previously ran the Foresters pub in Salisbury Road, Downend, but moved on around a year ago.
Mitch said 12 people currently work at the Grapevine, and around half of those would be found work at one of the family’s other sites, although the others would lose their jobs.
He said: “Mokka Downend has been running for three years and Keynsham now just over a year, so we are lucky that we have these to fall back on, and we now have to fully focus on these.”
Before opening as the Grapevine Brasserie six years ago, the pub on St James Place was previously the Salutation, and has been a pub since at least the 19th century.
The building is owned by the Stonegate Pub Company, the UK’s biggest pub owner with 4,500 sites.
Stonegate has already started advertising for a new landlord to take over the pub on its website, quoting a guide rent of £846 per week and a forecast turnover of £631,014 per year.
The company said: “Well known for its fresh food offering, the Grapevine is a strong business with a huge opportunity for a new retailer to develop an already strong business.”