It says a lot about the state of the hospitality industry in Northern Ireland when one of our top culinary talents spills the beans and declares it’s more expensive to run a restaurant in Belfast than London.
If Gemma Austin, star of BBC’s The Great British Menu and a favourite of King Charles and Hillary Clinton, can’t make Belfast work, then what chance anyone else?
Her popular spot, A Peculiar Tea on University Road, has served it’s last but she’s adamant it wasn’t a failure and could easily have been the culinary wonderland it set out to be had landlords around the city not been expecting what she called “extortionate rent”.
She’s moved out of the city and back home to Carryduff where she has launched Era in the grounds of Hinch Distillery.
And her parting message for the city?
“The future of hospitality in Belfast is rocky, unless changes are made.”
Belfast should be greedy for a thriving business community attracting more people to the city centre, not disappearing down the rabbit hole of fast cash and sky-high rents.