Michael Caines to close Cornish restaurant for the winter due to rising costs

Michael Caines is to close his Harbourside Refuge restaurant and bar in Porthleven, Cornwall for the winter in the face of soaring costs.

The chef launched the venue in summer 2020 after purchasing the site from the Rick Stein restaurant group.

But Caines said shortages of staff and produce as well as rising fuel prices meant the business would be unable to survive the winter months. It will shut on 6 November, and it is hoped the restaurant may be able to reopen in future.

Caines said in a statement: “My team and I found real joy and pride in running the Harbourside Refuge for the past two years, even under the most challenging of conditions. We have had to deal with a rollercoaster of events from after-effects of Brexit to Covid and now the cost of living crisis, challenges that I know many others are facing too, both locally and nationally.

“We have tried immensely hard to deal with these challenges, but I’m sorry to say that we have not been able to fully recover from the ongoing impact in regard to both supply and staff shortages, allied now with soaring fuel and other cost increases.

“It is therefore with a heavy heart that we have chosen to close Harbourside Refuge this winter and for the foreseeable future as we feel that the business is not sustainable to survive through the winter months to come.”

The chef paid tribute to the restaurant’s “hard-working team” and said many of them would take up other roles across his wider business in the south-west of England.

Caines added: “We hope that in closing for the winter months, the Harbourside Refuge will be able to weather the economic storm and that this is not a final goodbye but just a ‘see you soon’!”

The Michael Caines Collection also includes Lympstone Manor in Exmouth, the Cove restaurant at Maenporth and Mickey’s Beach Bar and Restaurant in Exmouth.