White Rabbit restaurant latest Cork city outlet to announce closure
Owner Picture: Rabbit Denis White On Vaughan, File Minihane Of Restaurant Maccurtain St The Stephen
Another Cork city restaurant has announced it will close its doors in the coming weeks.
White Rabbit Bar and BBQ on MacCurtain St made the announcement on social media on Saturday.
It is the fourth Cork restaurant to announce its doors are closing in the past nine days.
Nash 19 on Princes St, the Tung Sing restaurant which operated on St Patrick’s St for 60 years, and Pigalle, which operated on Barrack St for just over five years.
White Rabbit will close their doors for the final time on February 4 after nine years in business.
"It has been a difficult decision to make but, as with other restaurants that have recently announced closures, the costs involved in running a full-service restaurant have become impossible to absorb," the team wrote in a Facebook post.
However, they said that the venue will return "in the near future" with a different option but did not give any clues as to what that might be.
Aside from its MacCurtain St restaurant, White Rabbit has an outlet in the Marina Market and a deli on Princes St which will remain open. There are also plans to expand operations at both of these locations.
"We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal friends and customers for their support over the last nine years and especially all staff, past and present, who have made possible our past successes and achievements."
Anyone with vouchers for White Rabbit is encouraged to redeem them during one last visit to the restaurant but is advised that from February 5, the vouchers will be redeemable at the Marina Market and deli outlet.
On the heels of this latest closure, Cork Labour Party candidate Peter Horgan urged businesses to hold any decision to close and "force the Government to provide a plan of survival for businesses in Cork city and surround".
Mr Horgan said that something is not right in Cork city centre and called for action to protect it from "oblivion".
"We need to strip back the waffle and the grandstanding and excuse the issues that are stymieing small businesses in the city centre. Government ministers and parties have now been put on notice," he said.
Funding must be put into attracting people to the city, said Mr Horgan, who also called for a full forum of all stakeholders across the city to address the issue.