London Wahlburgers closes permanently

The franchisee of the first Wahlburgers site to open in the UK has decided to close the restaurant permanently after just one year due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The venue in London’s Covent Garden closed as of Saturday 6 June, and was the brand’s only UK site. Wahlburgers is understood to still be pursuing UK expansion.

Katie Piepiora from Wahlburgers said: “The restaurant industry around the world has been impacted greatly by the Covid-19 pandemic, and unfortunately the Wahlburgers franchisee for the Covent Garden location in London has made the difficult decision to permanently close the restaurant.

“Wahlburgers Covent Garden is situated in a very busy shopping and entertainment hub that attracts many locals and tourists. Our franchisee had to make the difficult decision to close this location due to the financial impacts of the pandemic on the restaurant industry, as well as the uncertainly of consumer behaviour post pandemic in a location such as this.”

The restaurant was the group’s first outside North America, in what it had said would be the first of 50 in the UK over five years. Wahlburgers is owned by chef Paul Wahlberg in partnership with two of his brothers, actors Donnie and Mark. The brand opened its first restaurant in Massachusetts in 2011.

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