'It is very much bittersweet' - Popular Offaly restaurant announces sudden closure

The very popular Town Restaurant in Birr has announced it is to close its doors at the end of next month.

Town Restaurant took to social media to announce the sad news this week. It also announced that it's pop-up coffee bar will serve its final latte on August 31.

In a post, they said: "Our pop up coffee counter has been a great success and we are very grateful. The coffee bar will finish serving on August 31.

"After many conversations and much thought, we as a family, have also decided that we will close town restaurant on September 1," the statement added.

"It is difficult to explain the reasoning in such an exposed environment such as Facebook but let's just say there are a lot of reasons why we feel this is the best decision for us and while it is very much a bittersweet decision, we are also looking forward to cooking a Sunday lunch in our own kitchen.

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"Our ethos from the get go was to provide our customers with quality, homemade, honest food, made from scratch and from the heart and we are very proud of the food we produced and the very best produce we used.

"Our small plates, curries, soups and sauces have all been received so warmly by our loyal customers and tourists alike and we like to think we added our own little something to the food landscape of Birr.

"Please join us on our farewell tour over the next 5 weeks or so where we will continue to introduce new dishes with the same love as we have always done.

"Those whom have gift certificates please use them before September 1.

"We are lucky to have always had positive interactions here on Facebook and are very grateful to those we've interacted with here, we would just ask those whom deal in online negativity to keep scrolling or if you cannot do that, write it on a piece of paper and put it under your pillow, don't leave it here, thanks in advance.

"Coffee town is open from 10am tomorrow and the main restaurant will open from 5pm," they concluded.

Locals have been left devastated by the news and took to the comments section to share their best wishes. One wrote: "Really sorry to hear this. Loved the food and always great service. You will be missed. Best of luck to you all in your future endeavours."