Nutters restaurant to close after 28 years

Andrew Nutter's restaurant in Rochdale is to close after 28 years and will stop trading on 17 October, although will be hosting a few final evening services the week of 19 October.

A post on the restaurant's Facebook page said: "It has been a difficult decision to make but these last two years have been extremely challenging when the hospitality industry as a whole had suffered immensely. We wanted to go out whilst we are still at the top of our game and it had been increasingly difficult to do that in these times. Not to mention the fact that Jean isn't getting any younger and has done such an amazing job throughout this time."

The post also said it had "happened very quickly" and on Twitter chef-proprietor Andrew Nutter described it as the "end of an era".

The Manchester Evening News reported Manchester-based Albert's Group, which has restaurants in Castlefield, Didsbury, Worsley and Standish, is in the process of buying the site.

Nutter told the publication he was planning to go into events and private dinner parties following events of the last year, which has seen the restaurant suffer from the widely reported staff shortage. He said: "I don't want people who come to the restaurant to have anything less than the best experience."

The Bird at Birtle will continue to operate as normal and vouchers for the restaurant will be accepted at the venue.

Andrew Nutter (pictured below) opened his first solo restaurant aged 21 with the backing of mother Jean and his now late father Rodney. It opened on the former site of the New Inn pub between Norden and Edenfield – although it took two years for it to be renamed ‘Nutters'.

After 10 years at the original site, several unsuccessful attempts were made to obtain planning permission for an extension to accommodate the restaurant's growing needs and saw it instead move premises to Wolstenholme Hall, where it has been located since.

Nutter took over the Bird I'th Hand pub in nearby Birtle, Lancashire, in 2014 and relaunched it as the Bird at Birtle in 2016.