A town centre bistro with a pink marble bar has closed just two years after opening.
Itaca’s wine bar and cafe filled one-half of the former Merchant Chandler unit in North Street, Ashford in December 2022.
Twin brothers Charlie and Billy Banyard spent months transforming the space into a business they dreamed up while on holiday four years before it opened.
The venue has since closed, with the brothers moving to London to focus on other projects.
A new buyer was lined up to take over the unit, but this has since fallen through and now “to let” signs have been placed in the window.
Charlie Banyard said: “We have decided not to go through the sale process again as it was very time consuming and the unit is now up for let but the bar can still be purchased along with the items in there.
“Sadly we have had to prioritise other projects over this now.
“We’ve had hundreds of messages from people asking to book but sadly we found running the bar too time consuming compared to our other projects, despite it being it very busy and popular when we were open.
“Overall opening the bar was a great experience for us.
“We met some amazing people and we made over 11,000 cocktails in our first year and we hosted over 40 baby showers.”
Chartered Surveyors Stafford Perkins is advertising the space for £20,500 per annum.
The listing describes the building as “finished to an extremely high standard with marbled floors and other fittings”.
By day Itaca’s was a cafe which served afternoon tea, coffee, and light food, and by night, it became a wine bar with an extensive cocktail menu.
The building is Grade II-listed and has two Georgian pillars at the front which have been restored.
The other half of the former Merchant Chandler building has been taken over by Fusion Multicuisine restaurant and takeaway.
Together, Itaca’s, Fusion and the former Evans unit on the corner of the Lower High Street make up a development called Draper’s Corner.
Miso Construction is behind the scheme and is upgrading the units along with six apartments above.
Eventually the former Evans unit which is currently in a poor state, will be filled by a retail unit.
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