Middle Eastern favourite Bar Saracen will close its doors due to financial hardship

A much-loved Melbourne restaurant will close its doors next week after being left in a ‘precarious’ financial situation post-lockdown.

Popular Middle Eastern restaurant Bar Saracen will close its Punch Lane restaurant after three years on January 30. Picture: File.

A popular Middle Eastern eatery is the latest causality in a series of CBD restaurant closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bar Saracen will host its last service on Saturday 30 January, after three years of trade.

Owner Joseph Abboud made the tough call to close after being crippled by financial hardship from two lockdowns and ongoing restrictions.

Mr Abboud said his once-thriving Punch Lane venue, in the city’s theatre district, wasn’t getting the foot traffic it needed to survive.

“You don’t realise how busy the CBD needs to be for people to fill all those nooks and crannies,” Mr Abboud told the Herald Sun.

Bar Saracen owner Joseph Abboud.

Bar Saracen won the 2018 Delicious 100 People’s Choice Award. Picture: Supplied

“These decisions are always very tough. I felt like (the restaurant) was less of a reward and more of an effort and … in the end I could not see this panning out.”

Mr Abboud said without federal government support through its Job Keeper and Job Seeker programs, he would have closed the business much sooner.

“There’d be no way we would have survived without it. Not a chance,” he said.

Mr Abboud shared his reasons for closing in an Instagram post on Thursday night.

“The effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on trade in our pocket of the Melbourne CBD especially, with the loss of international guests, city workers and passing foot-traffic, leaves us in a precarious financial situation,” he said.

When restrictions eased after the second lockdown, Bar Saracen could only seat 16 people of its usual 50.

Mr Abboud said free evening carparking may be one way to get more people visiting CBD restaurants.

Bar Saracen could seat 50 people pre-pandemic.

“Why would people leave home to go to a restaurant in the city, pay for parking and worry about who’s drinking and who’s driving?” he said.

Bar Saracen was quick to draw acclaim for its clever, pan-Middle Eastern cuisine — it won the 2018 Delicious 100 People’s Choice Award from more than 8000 reader votes, and made the top 30 in the coveted annual best restaurant lists in both 2018 and 2019.

Mr Abboud has no plans to open another venue and will invest his energy into his ‘golden goose’ venue Rumi in Brunswick.

Bar Saracen isn’t the first Punch Lane venue that’s been forced to close.

Last March Melbourne stalwart Longrain, and sibling Long Song, was set to close after 15 years of trade, before being bought by restauranter Scott Pickett.

Red Spice Road on Queen St, went into ‘deep hibernation’ last April and has not reopened.

Australian Restaurant and Catering Industry Association chief executive Wes Lambert said more restaurants were expected to close as a result of the pandemic, especially in the CBD.

“The Restaurant and Catering Association noted early in the pandemic that the net exit from the accommodation, food and services industry would be at a record percentage, as reported in the upcoming ABS February Entry and Exit Report,” he said.

Bar Saracen sold a $100 hummus for world hummus day. Picture: Ian Currie

“We do expect it to get worse before it comes good.”

Melbourne’s CBD was the epicentre of lockdown destruction late last year, with more businesses there lost to insolvency than in any other part of the state.

A Herald Sun analysis of the hundreds of businesses that failed between October and December showed the CBD and South Melbourne had the most businesses collapse into liquidation.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the city’s economy had been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

“We understand it’s been one of the toughest trading ­periods for businesses for ­generations with many businesses struggling to hold on,” she said.

“While we are starting to see green shoots in our economic recovery, the only way to sustain recovery is through consistent effort and co-operation.”