Jason Atherton's Sosharu closes abruptly amid relocation plans

Jason Atherton's Sosharu restaurant in Clerkenwell, Central London, has closed.

The Japanese restaurant was opened in March 2016 on Tunmill Street, with Atherton noting the following year that the concept was failing to attract lunch crowds to sustain the location's high rents.

However, despite saying he would keep the restaurant in the area in February after initial plans to relocate, all social media accounts for Sosharu have been deleted, while the search engine listing states it is "permanently closed". Its website remains active.

In a statement Atherton said: "When we launched Sosharu in March 2016, we hit the ground running with critical success, however, with time we have found the location of Farringdon to be an incredibly tricky spot.

"We look forward to relocating in London and hope our loyal customers will join us there.

"The Social Company is very proud of the Sosharu brand and we believe in its longevity with the right site."

It is currently unclear when Sosharu will reopen, however representatives for the restaurant have said it will be relocating to a central area.

It comes after a long-term campaign to make the location sufficiently profitable, which included lowering prices and changing menus.

"But there is not enough lunch trade in the area â€" being busy on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday is not enough to keep a site going with high rents in Central London."

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