Manchester-born restaurant brand, Tampopo, has announced the closure of its Piccadilly Gardens site.
The popular pan-Asian restaurant opened the branch just two years ago, alongside its other city centre restaurants in the Corn Exchange and Albert Square.
These two restaurants will remain open as will the restaurant at the Trafford Centre, and the East Street kiosk in the food court.
The enforced closures due to Covid and low footfall in the city centre since have made for an incredibly challenging atmosphere for restaurants
Now, Tampopo’s founder David Fox says he has been left with ‘no option’ but to close the restaurant after attempts to renegotiate rent with the landlord failed.
David said: “I have made the difficult decision to permanently close Tampopo Piccadilly Gardens. I had approached the landlord to see if they would consider a turnover based rent to allow us to trade during this period. This was rejected with no alternative offer suggested.
“They are seeking full payment of rent and service charge, including for the period we were closed.”
Even before the pandemic, it had not been an easy two years for Tampopo staff at Piccadilly Gardens.
David said: “My thanks go to the Tampopo Piccadilly team that have worked their hearts out to try and make the site work. It has been a difficult site to operate. It was in the eye of the storm of Piccadilly Gardens.
“This meant lots of liaison with the council, the police, the rough-sleepers team, the antisocial behaviour team, the street cleaners’ team and the drug squad amongst others. My team will not miss this.
“Whilst there was a will by the council to improve Piccadilly Gardens with a plan to improve the area with investment from the council, the resulting Pandemic has put paid to/seriously delayed that.
“Covid has also hit Piccadilly Gardens hard as it relies on office workers (many of whom were already vacating Piccadilly Gardens pre Covid) and visitors to the city – with many hotels in the area either closed or vacant.
“This makes the Landlord’s decision to not offer any support all the more short sighted.”
It is hoped that the most recent government support package will allow Tampopo to retain most its staff.
Along with this financial aid and the option for working meals, there are what David describes as “little glimmers of hope for improved sales across the rest of the Tampopo sites.”
He said: “The challenge we at Tampopo have is unchanged. To make sure every customer leaves with a smile on their face by creating a moments of happiness in their day.
“This is especially relevant in today’s mad world and which great service and food has the unique ability to do.
“My thanks go to every single one of the Tampopo team for all their hard work in delivering this on a daily basis. With the help of our customers we will get through this.”
