ADAMSHURST Restaurant and Function Centre will close tomorrow.
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Four weddings have been cancelled after business partners Tim Howe and Chris O’Connor said uncertainty about the building’s future meant they could not afford to continue to operate the reception centre.
They said the pending sale of the building had clouded the future of their business.
Builder Garry Morgan, who owns the historic Adamshurst building in David Street, Albury, put it on the market in August.
PICTURES: Take a look inside Adamshurst and its gardens by clicking through the above photos (iPhone app users can tap the 'Photos' tab).
Mr Morgan said at the time he thought he had a buyer for the property who did not want the restaurant to keep going, but that deal fell through.
Mr Howe said he had been told in September his lease would not be renewed and he and Mr O’Connor had been looking for new opportunities.
They will serve their last meal at Adamshurst tomorrow night.
“It was just the uncertainty,” Mr Howe said.
“The builder was going to sell and we didn’t have a lease, so the new owners could kick us out.
“We looked to secure our own future.”
They have already started to do that with the pair running catering at the Wagga RSL Club, on top of their commitments at North Albury Sports Club and Howlong Country Golf Club.
Mr Morgan, whose Albury building business went into liquidation in 2009, said he was reluctantly selling the famous building.
“We desperately wanted to hang on to it but we’ve had a lot of pressure on us and we had to,” he said.
The venue has a history of sudden departures.
In 2007, the Betty and Muriel’s restaurant at Adamshurst closed at short notice.
Proprietors Brock Phillips and Graeme Austin were locked out after failing to pay the rent.
They then fled the city owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to couples who had bookings for their weddings.
Adamshurst yesterday remained for sale with L.J Colquhoun Dixon.