Eaterie closes after not being ‘financially viable’
A £20 MILLION investment in a nearby shopping centre was not enough to save a restaurant in Sutton Coldfield.
Fleet Street Kitchen, in Belwell Lane, Mere Green, was located a stone’s throw from the new Mulberry Walk development of shops and cafes.
But with the new venues beginning to compete for locals’ hardearned cash the restaurant has closed. Its owners say it will not be re-opening as the venture was not ‘financially viable’.
Among the new competition are Bistrot Pierre, which opened on March 24, and Renato Lounge, which welcomed its first customers in January.
A staff member told the “Financially it wasn’t working. It closed about a week ago. Whether it opens as something else we don’t know.”
The site near Waitrose has seen a number of other bars and restaurants close.
It had once been home to Flints wine bar before its closure. Après moved from its location by the Sainsbury’s car park – now the Mare Pool pub – to the building in 2011. It closed on June 20 last year before being replaced by FSK.
The restaurant was part of the same Town and Country Inns group as Après, which went administration in November year.
However, the bars and restaurant chain, which included two Après bars in Birmingham and Cheltenham, two Fleet Street Kitchens in Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield, and the Mechu Bar and Grill Club, in Summer Row, Birmingham, was bought out of administration by a newly-formed company on November 2.
The owners have since announced the closure of Mechu, as well as the Cheltenham bar. into last