ONE of the city’s premier fine dining options, Dovetails Restaurant, will close its doors after the final meals are served on Christmas Day.
The multi-award winning restaurant, located in the landmark Ipswich Technical College building on Limestone Street, closes on Sunday after more than five years.
Dovetails opened as stage two of the ambitious restoration project by 4 Hearts Brewing to transform the iconic buildings into a hospitality precinct in 2017.
The restaurant was awarded a Certificate of Excellence 2019-20 by Trip Adviser, 1 Glass winner at the Australian Wine List awards 2020 and 2021 and Best Contemporary Restaurant Informal 2021 Restaurant and Catering Awards of Excellence.
Owner James Long, who owns the 88 Limestone Street buildings and operates Four Hearts Brewing and the Pumpyard Bar along with Dovetails, said Jobkeeper had helped keep Dovetails going through lockdowns. But the wet weather this year and restraint in spending in the past three months as cost of living pressures had made things tighter, had forced a need to close the restaurant.
“The customers are always right. We’ve got Pumpyard there and it is popular and it holds its own whereas we’ve persevered with Dovetails. We’ve got good staff and a good product but it is just not viable,” Mr Long said.
“You’ll go to Dovetails and there will be 10 people in there and there will be 60 people at Pumpyard having the nice, upmarket, gastro-pub experience and that seems to be what everyone is after.
“Dovetails is a good product. It is just not what the customer wants.”
Mr Long said the Pumpyard Bar remained open and they hoped to announce something for the Dovetails space in the New Year.
“We are resting the product. We have various businesses that are viable, the Pumpyard and 4 Hearts are going OK.
“Dovetails to me was a community service. It didn’t need to make money, I just wanted to break even but it’s not even doing that. It just got too much.
“I don’t think there are a lack of options in Ipswich, it is the customer prefers a product that is a bit more casual.
“We are pausing [the restaurant]. We have a great venue there and we are going to see what options are available, see if there is another operator that has a product that might suit the space.”
