Italian restaurant in Cairns closes after 16 years
Cairns restaurant Bel Paese has shut its doors after 16 years due to rising costs.
Bel Paese owner Nick Mure told the Cairns Post that he did his best to negotiate a way to stay open.
“But things have been so quiet in Cairns,” he said. “Things have changed in the city centre. It just got hard. The turnover dropped and the price of everything keeps going up.
“You can only charge so much for your food. Wages are going up, too. But we can’t keep putting our prices up because people can’t afford it. We were absorbing it all the time.”
Despite revitalisation works in the CBD, Mure said foot traffic in the area never eventuated.
“A lot of shops on Spence St are closing down,” he said. “And business at the moment, it’s pretty tough out there. I talk to the wholesalers, they say it’s not just you, everyone’s suffering. I had to pull the pin. I’ve exhausted all my savings.”
Sheridan Randall, 4th March 2019
