High profile Darwin restaurant Char to close doors indefinitely following crime concerns

An award-winning Darwin restaurant is about to close its doors. Read what’s behind the decision and do our poll.

Soaring levels of crime and anti-social behaviour are some of the major factors behind the planned closure of an iconic Darwin restaurant, its owners have revealed.

The award-winning Char at Admiralty House in Darwin city will close its doors from September 2 after a horror few months dealing with the consequences of crime.

The owners say the final straw came last month when a staff member was assaulted after approaching an intruder at the restaurant.

The closure is intended to only be temporary, although the owners have not set a date at this stage to re-open.

Char owners are closing the restaurant due to crime. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

The decision was sparked by a horror three weeks that saw crime at the restaurant hit a new peak — and an incident last week in which intruders tried to force their way into the restaurant through the emergency exit proved too much.

Char co-owner Hamish Brett said crime was a major factor behind the decision to close.

“We’ve had enough of it,” he said.

Several windows at the restaurant are boarded up and this publication has obtained images of blood left behind by an intruder after a break-in at the premises.

It costs $8000 to replace the restaurant front door every time it is smashed and the management is also concerned at the risk faced by staff, management and customers.

Located at Admiralty House on the corner of Peel Street and the Esplanade, Char opened in 2007 and its steaks have become symbolic of the NT’s world-leading cattle industry over more than a decade.

Blood on the stairs after a break-in at Char.

In 2022 Char and the upstairs Darwin Club were recognised with two Chef’s Hats while running two restaurants in one kitchen at the Australian Good Food Guide awards.

Char co-owner Georgia Brett said the family wanted to return focus to the Waterloo and Willeroo Station cattle properties the couple also own.

“We’ve gone through Covid, interest rates and high inflation and were pushing through focused on keeping our staff employed, but last month when the spate of break-ins started and our staff were assaulted, we were just gutted,” Ms Brett said.

“We gave notice to our team at the start of the month.

“It was hard and we feel terrible but when the safety of the people working there comes into play – it’s just time to say enough.

The scene of one of many break-ins at the award-winning Char restaurant in August.

“It’s really about having a break for us, it’s not our main business and we want to focus on the family and focus on cattle.

“We are working with our team at Admiralty House to ensure they can find employment, which is why we wanted to give them four weeks notice for that reason.”

The Brett family is also mourning the loss of patriarch and much-loved Territorian Colin Brett, who died in May.
About 40 people face being out of work when Char’s doors close.

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce said, while it would not comment on individual restaurants, the cost of crime was impacting on the sector, with 2023 proving to be a patchy season for tourism and hospitality businesses.

Coolroom door at The Midway smashed by a fist-sized rock on Thursday night.

“It’s a mixed bag for us with some in our industry reporting good numbers while others it’s the opposite,” he said.

“One thing that is common for all are the increased input costs, labour, produce and the cost of crime.”

The Char announcement comes after a shocking incident at The Midway hotel in Berrimah on Thursday evening in which fist-sized rocks were thrown at bottle-shop employees, narrowly missing a number of them and smashing the glass coolroom door.

Brad Morgan, who manages The Midway and The Reserve in Darwin’s CBD said on Tuesday, staff had to remove up to 20 people throughout the day for anti-social and aggressive behaviour, public drunkenness and theft.

He said his primary concern was the welfare of staff and customers caught up in the middle of escalating violence and intimidating behaviour.

”We have alcohol stolen and then offenders came back and try to go into an unstaffed area and steal bottles of alcohol,” he said.

“When they are confronted by staff they run off after abusing staff with threats — it’s a regular occurrence.”