Whitby Restaurateur Blames Lack of Council COVID Support for Closure

Whitby's Michelin-listed Star Inn the Harbour is to close on November 12th with restaurateur, Andrew Pern, putting the blame for its closure firmly at the door of Scarborough Borough Council.

The Star Inn the Harbour, which opened in June, 2017, is part of the Star Group of Restaurants, which includes the Michelin star-listed The Star at Harome, The Star Inn the City and The Winter Hütte, York.

Andrew Pern, who grew up on a small farm near Whitby and studied catering at Scarborough TEC, is a director of the Star Inn the Harbour alongside Mike Green.

Andrew said:

“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have decided to close The Star Inn the Harbour,"

"Mike and I would like to thank everyone who has supported us and all the fantastic staff who have done a brilliant job over the years - it has been a pleasure to work alongside them all, so much so that each and everyone of them have been offered employment at the Michelin starred The Star Inn at Harome, The Star Inn the City and The Winter Hütte, York.

"We have let our hearts rule our heads for many months now; and this decision is totally and absolutely a business one that has come from a number of factors.

"We could hide behind the effects of the Covid pandemic, which have affected the hospitality industry as a whole across the UK over the past few years.

"But the sad truth is that the single main reason we are closing is the almost utter lack of support we have received from Scarborough Borough Council during Covid - just two months' Covid business support.

"The most damaging and miserable fact that marks their card is that they took rent from us and most other businesses in the town during lockdown when we didn't have a penny coming in - how greedy and shortsighted is that in a place which relies heavily on tourism and hospitality?

"We should not really have been surprised by their lack of support as we tried to work, albeit unsuccessfully, with Scarborough Borough Council from when we first started developing The Star Inn the Harbour in 2016 and then from the day we opened the restaurant.

"It has been a continuous battle as all the positive factors that swayed us to be involved initially have never come to fruition - if anything they have damaged our chances of survival rather than encouraged them, and, coming into winter and with the council's decision to not help us in anyway, we will bring this Whitby chapter to a close for the time being."

A spokesperson for Scarborough Borough Council said:

“We are sad to hear about the decision to close the Star Inn the Harbour in Whitby but to blame it on us is unfair.

“We have been working closely with the restaurant for several months to ensure it can continue to trade during difficult times.

“At the restaurant’s request we renegotiated the terms of its tenancy.  Those terms were agreed in good faith but the restaurant recently walked away.

“Our local support for the restaurant has been in addition to the national help it was eligible for such as Covid grants and the government furlough scheme.

“As the custodian of public money, there will always be a limit to the help we can provide to individual businesses. “

The quality of the food at The Star Inn the Harbour has gained it a listing in the general section of the Michelin guide, with menus that have championed North Sea seafood, and locally and regionally produced food. Andrew Pern's local roots are in clear evidence throughout the menus which feature catch-of-the-day fish, North Yorkshire Moors' furred and feathered game, and a seasonal all day menu.

The Star Inn at Harome, which was ravaged by a fire that left it closed for a year, is due to fully reopen by the end of November. The Winter Hütte, a pop-up two-storey Swiss-style chalet in York city centre, is due to open on November 17th.

Whitby's Star Inn the Harbour will close on November 12th.