Panama House Bondi: Popular Campbell Parade restaurant forced to close
A popular Bondi Beach restaurant located on prime Campbell Parade real estate has been forced to shut after seven years after being hit hard by COVID restrictions.
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A Bondi Beach mainstay has been forced to shut its doors, unable to wait any longer for state government restrictions to ease.
Latin American restaurant Panama House has entered liquidation after seven successful years on Bondi’s main Campbell Parade strip.
In 2018 Panama House upgraded its location to a significantly bigger site seating 125 people.
According to owner Mitchell Slattery, that patronage was hit hard by COVID restrictions despite attempts to innovate the company was unable to hold on.
“When March came about and we were forced to close, we ran an internet-based delivery service for about a month, which didn’t even touch the sides it was more so just trying to keep people in a job,” he said.
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“Then we did decide at the end of April that we’d close the doors until further notice.
“Sydney’s not anywhere bad as Melbourne but at the end of the day I think it was a massive panic move and it could have been handled a lot differently.
“Those restrictions work for some businesses but not others.
“When you’ve got a cap of a quarter the size of the venue it almost makes it unjustifiable to even open.”
Mr Slattery said the rent on the site was “exorbitant” and, being a real estate agent himself, said landlords will need to budge on prices if they expect to get businesses in.
Mr Slattery owns Japanese restaurant Isabel, which opened last August next door to Panama House.
The trendy izakaya has been temporarily closed during COVID, however will reopen November 1.