A vegan restaurant in Ryde is set to close its doors at the start of September, less than 3 years after opening.
Craft and Grind No.9, located on the Esplanade, has announced that the doors will close for the last time on 2nd September.
Initially set up as a pizza pop-up during the COVID lockdown period, Craft evolved into a full-blown restaurant with a specialism in UK microbrewery craft beer.
By her own admission, owner Charlotte Brimstone has said that at times the business traded whilst losing money, with neglect of social media, marketing and general love and attention.
However, in March of this year, the business underwent a rebrand with a revitalised interest from the management team, counteracting the ‘cheap pubs and greasy spoons’ of Ryde. The offering was scaled down to focus on beer and pizza.
Now, just 4 months on from that rebrand, it has been announced that the journey is coming to an end. Charlotte is selling the restaurant to return to employment due to personal circumstances.
Charlotte, who has a full-time job away from Craft and describes the business as a passion rather than a necessity for income, has said:
“So much love to everyone who has supported myself, Daz and the whole team who helped the venture grow from a pizza pop up during lockdown to a restaurant. We hope you have made great memories eating pizza and drinking beer.
Article continues below this advertisement “Cheers to a final summer”.
The business is up for sale with offers invited through Scotcher & Co.
The news comes less than 8 weeks after another vegan establishment, Tansy’s Pantry in Godshill, announced it is to close on 4th September.
Unfortunately it seems the Isle of Wight is not yet ready for Vegan food in large enough numbers to support the business.
Vegan is the closest thing to cancer so rather not
Foool silly dumb attitude:(
Feel sorry for your kids really do. No chance in growing up with a healthy mind that’s for sure!
Hes not the real mushroom meat, im the og.
And in my opinion i dont care what people put into their body.
Each one to their own
Hardly ‘unfortunate’ as people here used to be normal, eat normal food, be a normal gender, and were mostly local to the area and if not, at least to the close mainland.
Life truly was so very much better.
Now everyone has to push their odd ball ways onto others, so glad the weirdness is causing cracks, perhaps normality will once again return due to people becoming glad of ‘anything’ to eat, without all this vegan, fake intolerances, and other fads with those with too much money and time to look up ever perceived new allergy or health issue.
Next food shop fad is going to be the eating of insects, its already happening
Yeah, get off the island and explore the world for gods sake!! Armchair warriors this lot!!! Sad sad sadder saddest!!!
For those of us who have to live with so-called ‘fake’ intolerances – I just hope you never get diagnosed with one!
All intolerances have usually been discovered when the person becomes weak or can’t keep their food down or has some other major allergic reaction. They then undergo specialist investigations to discover the reason. And then they try to live a life as best they can, knowing their food restrictions.
Luckily, the majority of pubs and restaurants on the Island, even the bigger food chains, now have food for people with intolerances. Do you think they would bother if it was fake?
Clearly not all are fake, but as I said, feel many get like most of us get, the odd pain, or the back door trots, or some other bloating and ‘have’ to look it up, panic, and blame something and love telling others about it.
Always have been people born with defects, just got on with it, took their own food, or didn’t eat something if it genuinely made them ill.
Now they love the attention of ‘being different’ as being weird is now MORE acceptable than just being ‘boringly normal’
Of course pubs etc ‘bother’ as it is easy money selling cheap rubbish to mugs, much as nail bars love the fad of having shiny bits glued on your finger nails, DOSEN’T mean it is always justified though.
Maybe they just want to eat at a nice restaurant line you do occasionally? If you ever leave your dad armchair!!
Yes of course they would bother for the MONEY, as now it has become fashionable to boast about yourself ‘not being normal’.
Being normal in food choice or gender, holds no-ones attention, and the ‘look at me crowd’ LOVE and crave attention.
So many people have had the joey jits, and the attention seekers love to then blame it on an ‘intolerance’ after surfing the net to become a boring expert on such, to then bore others with at every meal time.
Some will have genuine intolerance, but most are just attention seeking and once few people are impressed by their bowel habits and symptoms they give up, hence the lack of trade as people have real issues to worry over, not fad first world make believe probs.
Opening a vegan restaurant is hardly “pushing their oddball ways onto others”
Who are you ridiculing down voters on here!? Get out more what’s wrong with you all!! Pod people !!!
Stupid cow!? If you’re a woman, just an idiot I think!
People have preferences as well as allergies in the ‘real world’ not the blinkered shallow place you come from
By reading your abusive replies you obviously have limited intelligence.
Some people choose not to eat dead animals not exactly a fad. Like Albert Einstein and leonardo da Vinci not a new thing at all.
Karen n, Eating dead animals is still preferable to eating live ones.
Animals eat animals, animals eat insects, if causing death is the ‘concern’ every time we walk we crush innocent lives, every time we drive even more so. Eating veg means that many creatures would have died to prevent them gaining access to the crops.
Every time we swim, millions of microscopic living things dry and die.
Or does only furry animals have a right to be left off the plate and anything you can’t see being harmed is a case of ‘Oh well’ did my best.
Countless lives depend on farm animals being here, a symbiotic life built up over thousands of years, but YOU ‘think’ you know best, but you don’t
Whilst your pontificating from your vastly over inflated podium… The Island has plenty of room for all types of restaurants.. Sadly you will be watching your own carnivore palaces also close this year on The Island I know of at least 4 on the brink!!!… Its not fads it’s money in wallet driving the need to make up lunches to take out for tourists that plus huge hefty prices to get in anywhere and the ferries demanding a mortgage before your car can even set a, wheel on its decks…”rip off Isle not tourist Isle”unless your a restaurant washing money for certain Island individuals and closing afters 6months or your head chef”moving on” your ideals will also be under the cosh!, it a huge fall from that pedestal hope you can fly?!.
Such a pity, for both eateries. Perhaps if more islanders embraced a healthier lifestyle there would be less obesity and other health related issues, which significantly impacts on St Mary’s Hospital, ambulance service and fire service financially. Before the vegan bashers’ come back I’m not, but have always eaten sensibly and sometimes a meat/dairy free day or 2 a week.
This is a pizza restaurant not tofu & lentils. You eat your pizza with your craft beers – very nice it is too – but it isn’t health farm!
Neither is the world Ron !
Or they are too scared in case they get lynched outside the place… ;(
Vegan is out of fashion, give me meat anyway.
McDonald’s is packed everyday.
Well said i totally agree with you
… packed with grotesque, half-witted, obese lame-brains. All a future burden on the state with diabetes and dementia. McD’s and other junk food outlets should be forced to pay for the medical care of these idiots.
People work hard and they just need the nutrients and energy that vegan food cannot give, and addding to that stick the word “vegan” on anything and it always seems to cost more to buy.
Good. Only so many ways you can big up a lentil
That just shows a bigoted for face value, no diet is healthy if people don’t hit the correct balance!
I’m sure they’re intelligent enough to know what they need in their diets, you clearly have no idea
Cheap grub and greasy spoons, that’s what I would prefer any how.
Sorry but the place was never open places need to be open every day in the summer. Because it’s a long winter
They were probably always ill due to lacking in essential nutrients.
I work with some Vegans, always off ill.
They often suffer depression and other mental health issues too.
Some might suggest that is because they are more ‘caring’, whilst others see it as they are odd, and a little messed up not to want to eat meat as humans have done for thousands of years.
I plump for the latter, a sickly weedy, bunch that likely would have had a spell in Whitecroft only a few decades ago to put them right.
Good get a kebab shop in there quick! No one wants a vegan shop anyway!
Never heard of it,sounds like a knitting shop to me
Vegans that do it by choice have an eating disorder. Some people have no choice which is a shame. Humans are omnivores, not eating a bit of everything is bad for you, ask any doctor. Just as eating nothing but pies and burgers is bad for you, eating just veg is too.
September can’t come soon enough.
The Isle of Wight has a lot of catching up to do this and several other vegan businesses would survive with more footfall, on the mainland probably. Well done for trying to educate.
Was just another fad, a lot like owner electric milk float cars like these morons around us
what really pi%%es me off is vegans that have pet dogs and cats should not be allowed.These dogooders that won’t eat this and that seem not to worry about feeding there animals meat and animal derivatives.Bloody hypocrites the lot of them .Vegan should mean no meat eating pets.
I have a vegan lives next to me with a massive greatdane.what a complete hypocrite not eating meat but feeding the dog 10 tins of chum per day.What do they think is in that?
Have you ever noticed how most vegans are wishywashy.?what they need is a good steak pie or a burger.Being a vegan is a mental disorder shows why places like this are so unpopular.
I bet Mac Donald’s in Newport takes more in half an hour than this place takes in a whole year.Come on over all you Evans and quee up for a Big Mac Meal.
It’s sad, I’m afraid the island isn’t ready for anything remotely modern or interesting at all! A change of name or house paint colour sends them into vigilante mode. Not intellectually tuned to understand that people have genuine allergies or even preferences as to the things they choose to eat out of necessity or pleasure. They’re stuck in their ways like the dinosaurs at blackgang!!!
or your just a self absorbed wokey, that expects everyone else to change to suit your needs.
What are vegans 10 per cent of the poulation if that ?.never going to work
in 2019 1.21% of the uk were vegans. 1.21% of the island is about 1500 people.
Novak Djokovic – vegan – is he malnourished?
Lewis Hamilton – vegan – is he malnourished?
The list is long, and growing.
I’ve been vegan for over 3 years, not taken any medicines whatsoever, and I’m built like a beast. Am I malnourished?
This comment section is full of the absolute dregs of the island, stubborn, low intellect cavemen (and cavewomen), who are destined for a painful end to a short unhealthy life. Well I won’t be pushing you around in wheelchairs after your strokes and heart attacks. You’ve made your choice and one by one you’ll realise what you’ve done. Although it will be too late for most of you. See you in the queue for Maccy D’s, as I drive past and laugh.
Unfortunately, our health service will ensure that they live LONG unhealthy lives at the expense of us healthy people. We will be paying more and more in tax to fund the maintenance of diabetic, obese, demented idiots in nonfunctional states. Make them pay for their own stupidity.
Bet you are on antidepressants or soon will be.Fact 80% of vegans in the uk take antidepressants regularly and100%are white as sheets.
A low intellect is not killing one animal to eat, but killing hundreds of others to grow vegan food. Ask any farmer who grows vegan crop how many pesticides and poisons are used to kill animals and insects to stop them eating your lentils. Eat what you want but don’t pretend other things don’t die in the process of your food, none of those things are used in a field full of cows of sheep.