“Like most, we are feeling the current financial pinch and instead of running the gauntlet we have decided to go out on a high.”
“The cost of everything in Australia for hospitality right now is just horrendous,” he said.
“We’re putting more than in the till than ever, but what is left over is less than ever.”
Character and charm of historic Aussie pubs
Matthews said that to keep going, he would have to raise the price of the pub’s popular Mountain Goat lager to $20 a pint from $15.
“Places are closing hard and fast because it’s the path of least resistance and the most economically viable way to get out,” he told the AFR.
The Carringbush, which re-opened in 2019, will not accept bookings for its remaining days and is “winding down” its much-advertised meat-free pub menu, but has urged customers to drop in to help celebrate the venue before doors close.