Matt Moran’s Little Big House has closed its doors for good with the leasehold on the market

The impact of COVID-19 has seen a celebrity chef close a high profile Brisbane restaurant and bar for good and put the operation on the market.

THE COVID-19 pandemic has claimed another scalp with celebrity chef Matt Moran’s award-winning South Brisbane restaurant closing its doors for good.

The leasehold of Moran’s two-storey restaurant and bar, Little Big House, which he operated in conjunction with Sydney-based Solotel Group, is on the market.

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Armed with a $3m fit-out, the venue opened in 2017 in the heritage-­listed Collins Place within the Southpoint precinct and was the third restaurant for the joint venture in Brisbane, alongside city fine diner Aria Brisbane and the more casual ­Riverbar & Kitchen.

However, Aria closed last year when it lease expuired, leaving the Riverbar & Kitchen the only Moran/Solotel restaurant remaining in the city.

The Little Big House on Grey Street at South Brisbane.

Like most restaurants Little Big House closed during lockdown and never reopened and Solotel director Bruce Solomon said with the impact of COVID-19 it was better to cut their losses.

“It’s a good business but it has been closed for such a long time and maybe a good local operator will be better at it than someone from Sydney,” he said.

“However, we are absolutely committed to keeping Riverbar & Kitchen open and we are still looking at other opportunities in Brisbane.”

CBRE Hotels national pub director Paul Fraser has been appointed to market the high-profile leasehold interest in The Little Big House on behalf of the Solotel Group.

The property is split across multiple levels, offering an internal footprint of about 365sq m on a site area of 160sq m.

“Opportunities to operate a high-profile asset such as the Little Big House don’t come along very often,” he said.

“The sale campaign provides a sought-after opportunity for a hands-on operator to secure the leasehold and capitalise on the asset’s many attributes and prominent location.

“While this asset was a very high performing food and beverage operation from inception, Solotel has made it clear that they will not be reopening the asset post COVID, meaning the leasehold will be sold.”