\u201cIt is with the heaviest heart and the greatest sadness that we announce the closure of Bochelli\u2019s restaurant after an amazing journey with over 20 years in business,\u201d the statement from owner Declan McLoughlin and his family said.<\/p>\n
The family said the decision followed \u201cconsistent increasing costs within the hospitality sector\u201d, including rising food and utility bills and \u201ca recent increase in rental costs\u201d.<\/p>\n
They said the closure of the Cliff Walk had led to \u201ca dramatic effect on turnover\u201d with \u201ca 20 to 25pc decrease in sales and a loss of over 350,000 people walking annually\u201d.<\/p>\n
They also said \u201cthe train service to Greystones has also been a great disappointment with every bank holiday being compromised with no service”. The statement added that \u201crecent budgetary decisions\u201d had further affected small businesses.<\/p>\n
Located on Church Road, Bochelli\u2019s has been a family-run restaurant embedded in the life of the town for more than two decades. Over the years, the restaurant has hosted christenings, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings – the setting for milestones across generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBochellis has been a family run business in the heart of the Greystones community and has been an integral part of the business community and the development of the town,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBochellis has been the beginning of many a love story, from first dates to proposals. We have witnessed children become adults over two decades. This all has been part of a memory bank that will never leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their community work included hosting Chernobyl children\u2019s events and hosting the Christmas dinner on Christmas Day for many years for their homeless friends within the community, which McLoughlin said were \u201csome of the best Christmases my family have ever experienced\u201d.<\/p>\n
McLoughlin also thanked past and present staff, writing: \u201cTo the many, many staff that have flowed through the doors of Bochellis, old and new, I would like to thank them all for the hard work, dedication and commitment to the business over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis post is possibly the saddest message I have ever had to compose. As I move onto a new chapter in my life, I wish you and all our fellow business people in Greystones happiness and success in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announcement prompted a large response online, with customers reminiscing about the restaurant\u2019s role in their lives, describing the closure as the \u201cend of an era\u201d and saying that \u201ca bright light in Greystones has gone out\u201d.<\/p>\n
One person wrote: \u201cWent with my mum regularly as a child, had my engagement celebration there, and in recent years brought my own little one in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another commenter described the restaurant as \u201ca staple in the town for so many families\u201d and thanked the owners for \u201call you\u2019ve given back to our community\u201d, recalling celebrations of confirmations, graduations and birthdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife and I had our first date there, along with many other anniversary meals and date nights,\u201d a commenter wrote, while another said: \u201cIt\u2019s ours and our children\u2019s favourite restaurant\u2026 every Christmas Eve since we moved here\u2026 We will miss it dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt is with the heaviest heart and the greatest sadness that we announce the closure of Bochelli\u2019s restaurant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,2864,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-152033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-eoin-mac-raghnaill","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115459227928456672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}