Hobart councillor Mike Dutta forced to close café Foodstore, Macquarie Street, Hobart

A shocked and heartbroken community is rallying around a café owned by Hobart councillor Mike Dutta which will close this month due to a rise in rent.

Macquarie Street Foodstore owner Mike Dutta. Picture: Chris Kidd

A shocked and heartbroken community is rallying around a café owned by Hobart councillor Mike Dutta which will close this month due to a rise in rent.

He has run the bustling Foodstore Café in Macquarie St for almost 14 years and said he had made the decision to close “with a very heavy heart” but a new lease was “too onerous”.

“The rent was going up more than 10 per cent and financially we would not have been able to survive, it would be too much of a financial burden,” Mr Dutta said.

After teaching at Hobart College, he returned to Fiji and worked as a lawyer before fleeing after the coup returning to Hobart in 2006 and taking over the café with his sister as a “sea change”.

“Our clear understanding was that it would be a community hub.

“It was like a church but without the preaching and instead a place to demonstrate love and compassion and Christian values through food and discussion.”

Patrons have described Mr Dutta as a “South Hobart legend” and the café as “eclectic”.

“I’m so heartbroken that such a special place that for so many has been much more than a cafe, is coming to an end,” Merridy Eastman wrote on Facebook.

“We all know what the Foodstore was to the South Hobart community and beyond.

“It was a home, a refuge, and for some of us it was a kind of church.”

Others wrote: Where will I go now for love and politics and real-deal multiculturalism with my coffee?

“I am beyond words. So so sad. Beautiful people and Neela makes the best coffee in Hobart.”

Mr Dutta said the café had been a place that “played a significant role in the lives of many”.

“To me, this cafe has been a symbol of hope, a place where people can come together and find common ground, regardless of their differences.

“It has been a place where people have found love, friendship, and a sense of belonging. Here we have had political meetings, a place for multicultural communities to meet and discuss philosophy.”

Mr Dutta hopes his 10 staff will find other jobs and is humbled that one patron is considering a GoFundMe campaign.

He will travel to New Zealand soon to visit his sister who has had a stroke but will return before the café closes on May 27.