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The Folkestone Wine Company closes
The Folkestone Wine Company has announced that it will shut its doors this May as the restaurant’s owners prepare to launch a new project.
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“What we wanted Folkestone Wine Company to be was a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant serving great seasonal food and lovely wines to the people of Folkestone and beyond. I’d say we’ve nailed the brief,” co-owner David Hart told the drinks business.
The restaurant, which opened in Kent in 2015, is the brainchild of Hart and co-owner/partner Polly Pleasence.
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The Folkestone Wine Company was praised by The Guardian‘s Grace Dent in 2018, who was glowing about how this “independent labour of love” which “not everyone will get”. Dent also noted that visitors ought to have “empathy for how hard it is for places such as this even to keep the lights on”.
It will close its doors for the final time on 18 May.
“We’ve run the restaurant with ourselves as the only full-time workers for virtually all of our tenure,” explained Hart. “We have fabulous staff who help us out when they can on the busier services but, we’re both still doing the jobs of two people. 14 hour days do strange things to your body and soul. With more than 60 years in hospitality between us, a proper break is long overdue. Despite the restaurant being busier than ever we feel like the time is right to take a break on our own terms and recharge before creating something new.”
The environment of the UK’s hospitality industry has become increasingly hostile, a result of a perfect storm of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, and, perhaps most pressing, the upcoming changes to National Insurance.
“Despite being full more often than not we won’t pretend for a minute that it’s easy,” said Hart. “In fact in more than three decades in the business, the economic outlook for restaurants in general is as harsh as it’s ever been.”
As for what is next for Hart and co-owner and Pleasence once The Folkestone Wine Company closes, Hart said that they would take a “short sabbatical” before launching the “new project” later this year, though details regarding the latter are currently under wraps.
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