Popular restaurant to shut after 5 years as owner speaks of ‘sadness’ to close over rising costs
A HIGHLY rated restaurant in Bristol is set to close this summer just five years after opening.
Pizza restaurant, Dough Heads, made the announcement on social media and their website that they would have their last trading day on Friday June 6.
The popular pizzeria had been sharing the site of alcohol manufacturer Espensen Spirit since it opened five years ago, but the landlords have made the decision to sell it.
Founder Jen Sankey said in her message about the closure that Dough Heads would not be finding a new site: “As is the case with many small businesses at the moment, rising costs and an uncertain financial future for the hospitality industry have applied many pressures over the years.
“We’re proud to have survived the lockdowns and the difficult years afterwards and we truly have our customers and incredible staff to thank for this.”
She added: “The future is uncertain, but we’re excited for what’s ahead, and we hope to see lots of you coming in to eat Dough Heads before we shut our doors in June.”
The announcement sparked much devastation from the local community on social media who shared their sadness and with the pizzeria’s staff, with many commenting how “gutted” they were.
One Instagram user wrote: “So sad to hear you’re closing.
“Such a loss for the neighbourhood. All the best with the next chapter.”
Another wrote: “This is tragic. The best pizza in Bristol.”
As a “dough obsessive”, Jen founded Dough Heads in 2021 after working for some of Bristol’s top street-food traders including Tsukemono, Murray Mays and The Little Taquero, as well as hotels and restaurants around the world.
Her pizzas, which contain dough made over four days and a minimum fermentation period of 72 hours, have been rated 4.9 stars on Google with over 150 reviews.
Closure of Dough Head comes amid a challenging time for independent businesses, where restaurants, pubs, and cafes have been forced to shut down.
This has often been associated with the rising cost of living and subsequent decline in dining out.
Even well-known pizza chains have been faced with closures, like Papa Johns which confirmed that 43 of its restaurants would shut down in the coming months.
More closures could be on the horizon due to upcoming hikes in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and the national minimum wage.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”