Customers say they're 'gutted' as popular Stockport restaurant known for award-winning pies closes

Customers of a Stockport restaurant and bar have expressed their sadness after its owner confirmed it has closed its doors.

Blackbird Brewhouse located in Stockport town centre has closed with immediate effect with its owner citing 'proposed rent increases' as the reason for shutting its doors.

Owned by Andy James, the site was originally home to his award-winning pie restaurant, Ate Days a Week, before being reinvented this year as a dining spot offering pies, roast dinners and craft beers, among other specialities.

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Taking to social media last night, owner Andy said it was with 'deep regret' that he was announcing the closure. He said that finding the words to say had been 'extremely' hard after four years of running businesses from the site.

The post on Instagram read: "The last couple of weeks have been torture, easily the hardest of my life in all honesty. Blackbird is now closed in Stockport.

"I am absolutely broken hearted and I haven’t even started to fully process this, it’ll take some time to get over that’s for sure."

He then urged customers to read through the accompanying statement in the post as way of explaining why the decision had been made. And he ended the post by promising punters: "We will be back."

The photos attached to the post went on to explain that the closure was down to 'proposed rent increases', we he said were 'unfeasible' for him to continue operating from the location.

He added: "We have been on an incredible ride in this site for over 4 years from the first iteration of Ate Days A Week, lockdowns, tiers and more leading us into adding Notion on the first floor before expanding that to