Dismay for foodies as shutters come down on two restaurants
Two town centre restaurants have closed without warning.
Maidstone restaurants Madisons in Gabriel’s Hill, and burger chain 7Bone in Earl Street, have both shut abruptly.
Mystery surrounds the closure of Madisons, which came to the town in 2020, after it suddenly cancelled bookings up to Christmas and returned deposits.
The restaurant also ran Palm Boutique Nightclub at the former Strawberry Moons Nightclub site.
The eatery closed “out of the blue” on Monday after a “change of owners”, according to a former spokesman.
Social media channels for the restaurant, which ran a popular bottomless brunch, have been deleted and its website has now been set to private.
A call to the restaurant yielded no luck, with a short voicemail message saying: “We’re very sorry but Madisons is unable to take any reservations or bookings at this time.”
Similarly, 7Bone, which opened next to Zizzi’s in December last year, closed to customers on July 19.
A spokesman for the burger chain, which has a restaurant in
Canterbury, explained: “This is a temporary closure. We’re looking to rebuild the team as unfortunately the headcount we had did not result in the ability to operate at a sustainable level for the foreseeable future – which was not fair on the team we had, or the customers.
“In parallel to doing this, we will continue to monitor the current restaurant climate in the town.
“When were are in a position to reopen, the date will be confirmed on our social media channels.”
Some staff have been moved to the Canterbury restaurant.
It is not the first time businesses in the town centre have mysteriously shut – The Green Room, also in Earl Street, closed just seven months after opening.
A former owner of the five-storey event centre hit out at the government for “scaremongering” about Covid-19 which led to the business reportedly losing £500,000 profit during lockdown.
One woman took to social media questioning the sudden closure of Madisons restaurant after she had booked a work party for Christmas.
She explained she had received a voicemail from staff saying her party had been cancelled and she was refunded, without further explanation.
“It is disappointing because there’s not many places like Madisons in Maidstone, only MuMu,” she told the KM.