Chorley fine dining restaurant and cocktail bar Encore shuts its doors
A fine dining restaurant in Chorley has been forced to close due to ‘unsustainable rising costs’.
Encore in Peter Street has shut permanently with its owner Gareth Teebay saying growing costs had made it “impossible to continue trading”.
Gareth opened Encore in 2018 with the passionate foodie putting his life savings into a fine dining restaurant that wouldn't "cost the earth" for his customers.
But six years later, he has been forced to close the restaurant after struggling with a huge increase in the cost of produce.
Announcing the closure on Facebook, Gareth said: “It is with great sadness we have to inform you, Encore is now permanently closed.
“Due to unsustainable rising cost it has become impossible to continue trading.
“We would like to thank everyone for some cherished memories over the last 6 years.”
Encore’s fine dining was a hit with Chorley’s foodies and counted the town’s MP and Speaker of the House of Commons,Sir Lindsay Hoyle, among its many fans.
It consistently scored top marks with customers on TripAdvisor and Google Reviews, earning it 5 stars and ranking among the very best restaurants in the Chorley area.
In 2022, Gareth shared his frustrations with the post-Covid economy and how it had impacted his restaurant, describing the financial pressures as "crippling".
He said: "Under lots of stress and strain we managed to make it through the pandemic to emerge out the other side to feel positive for the future and then be hit with the cost of living crisis. It's put a huge amount of people off spending disposable income and it's across the board.
"It's had a massive effect on us, we've noticed a massive increase in the cost of produce - in some cases things have increased five times than what they were pre-pandemic.
"The rise in produce coupled with the wage increases, the utilities are now crippling but at the same time we can't up our prices to match that. No one is wanting to spend too much money.”