One of Lincoln’s most student-friendly bars is set to close on October 18 and will be replaced by French restaurant chain, Côte.
Craft first came to Lincoln two years ago, and has flourished ever since. The bar was looking to expand their two-story site later this year, however the owners have accepted a substantial sum for the site from Côte Restaurants.
Craft and Côte have both confirmed the news of the site being refurbished to become a French restaurant.
Jeffery Bocking, a 23-year-old bartender at Craft confirmed the news that the bar is set to leave Lincoln.
He said: “It’s being taken over by Côte, and there won’t be a bar or anything. It’ll be a full on restaurant all day and night.”
“It’ll be a completely different place, they’ll renovate it and everything about Craft will be changed from the 18th, they’re going to completely gut the place.”
It was thought that Craft had to leave the site due to rising lease prices, however Bocking said this wasn’t the case.
“Craft makes a lot of money, it turns over a really good profit. On a Saturday night, we do numbers that aren’t matched by any other bar,” Bocking said.
“Côte owns 71 sites nationally, they have a lot of money and the investors of Craft couldn’t refuse offer.”
He continued: “I’ve been to Côte before, and it’s a nice place to eat. Whether it’s right for Lincoln, that’s another story.”
“I feel like making the site purely into a restaurant isn’t right, I don’t personally think it’ll do the numbers Craft does.”
Some big assertions here. I’m keen to know Bocking’s sources regarding his claim that “On a Saturday night, [Craft does] numbers that aren’t matched by any other bar.”
[…] The Linc exclusively broke that Craft was due to close at the end of last year, it was also reported that they’d be replaced by a French brasserie, […]