Dublin city continues to lose the spaces that have defined it, as rising costs, and a lack of governmental help, means businesses are struggling to survive.
It’s not just nightclubs with restrictive licensing laws and rising costs that are suffering. There are now only 90 nightclubs left in Ireland, and restaurants are on a similar downward spiral.
Earlier this week, Dylan McGrath announced the closure of two restaurants Rustic Stone and Brasserie Sixty6 citing the unsustainability of running a restaurant business.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) said recently that 577 restaurants, cafés and other food-led businesses have been forced to close since the VAT rate increase last September.
And here comes Ukiyo, the latest casualty in the shrinking profit margin of Dublin hospitality. For over 20 years on Exchequer Street, Ukiyo has been a casual Japanese restaurant with a late night element, with an expansion to their karaoke area downstairs into a late bar, nightclub feel with with DJs playing regularly, in recent years.
Well no more.
Ukiyo has closed permanently today, saying “we survived a pandemic, a stock market crash and lots of bumps along the road but unfortunately the margins in our business are now so meagre that there is no future for us and so many more of our fellow businesses.”
“We have tried everything and given everything to this business but unless the government gets off its hands and helps the hospitality sector then we will certainly not be the last.”
Ukiyo’s closure is yet another sad notch in the tale of Dublin hospitality. A portion of what this city has left in terms of club spaces are Asian restaurants that double as nightclubs and if the food business is starting to fail then you can be sure the nightclub element will be the first to go.
See the full statement below.
It is with immense sadness today that we announce the immediate closure of our beloved Ukiyo Bar.
We want to especially thank all our amazing and loyal staff, both past and present for all they have contributed to building the legend that is Ukiyo.
Ukiyo would not have been the same without our DJs who brought their incredible record collections, our suppliers and trades who supported and stuck by us over the last two decades. Our biggest thank you is reserved of course to our customers who returned time after time for our special brand of hospitality and good times.
We are immensely proud of all we’ve achieved over the past twenty years, we survived a pandemic, a stock market crash and lots of bumps along the road but unfortunately the margins in our business are now so meagre that there is no future for us and so many more of our fellow businesses.
We have tried everything and given everything to this business but unless the government gets off its hands and helps the hospitality sector then we will certainly not be the last.
Three more of our neighbours closed last week, we are all within fifty metres of each other, all respected, long established and highly regarded on one of Dublin’s busiest thoroughfares, if this is not direct evidence of a systemic decline in our industry and in our immediate urban fabric then I don’t know what is… Tourism and hospitality are the lifeblood of employment in our communities, towns and cities, if the government acts now, maybe more of our colleagues will keep their jobs and their businesses, to do nothing will mean the death of our industry and a huge blow to the cad mile failte that we extend to Ireland’s visitors every year.
We will always have our memories to share, and we wish long life to the countless romances, engagements, weddings and few babies that were born along the way. This is the end for now but we will hopefully see you all again, further on down the road.
Duncan & Lou
