A Bournemouth town centre restaurant/takeaway has closed for good after increasing crime and abuse towards staff made the site unsafe.
Nathan’s Famous in Bournemouth’s Landsdowne area, closed its doors, and the American-style restaurant has removed itself from all delivery platforms this week and marked as ‘temporarily closed’.
Nathan’s Famous has now confirmed that the Bournemouth branch has closed due to difficult circumstances in the hospitality industry.
Tom Turner, chief technical officer at Nathan’s Famous, said: “A substantial increase in operational costs, including energy, rent and staffing costs, alongside ever escalating incidents of anti-social behaviour and vandalism on Old Christchurch Road have been the driving force behind our decision.
“Over the past few months our store has been subjected to multiple break-ins, vandalism, and abuse towards staff members.
“We no longer believe it is viable to offer Nathan’s Famous at this location without compromising our commitment to providing exceptional value and quality to our customers, in a safe environment.”
The restaurant opened in 2019 serving New York style hot dogs and burgers in Bournemouth ,and Mr Turner added: “Nathan’s Famous has always been dedicated to delivering an authentic American dining experience.
“However, to maintain our standards without significantly raising our prices is a balance we strive to keep in favour of our valued customers.
“While we are saddened to conclude our journey in Bournemouth, we continue to serve our loyal patrons at our Portswood, Southampton location.
“We are currently exploring new opportunities to expand and bring the Nathan’s Famous experience to more areas.”
“Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all our customers who have supported and enjoyed our brand over the past four years.
“Your enthusiasm and patronage have been the cornerstone of our success, including being shortlisted Deliveroo’s Best Burger & American Food Restaurant award.”
Chief superintendent Heather Dixey, of BCP Local Policing Area, said: “Anti-social behaviour (ASB) has a significant impact on people’s wellbeing, quality of life and sense of security and how safe they feel in their own homes or at work.
“In order to get an understanding of ASB and crime in an area, we monitor trends and use partnership data to help inform hotspot patrols at key times – right place, right time philosophy in order to prevent anti-social behaviour and escalation into criminality.”
“We would encourage anyone with concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour in the Old Christchurch Road area to please report it to Dorset Police.”
