DUBLIN RESTAURANT AND karaoke bar Ukiyo today announced that it is closing with immediate effect.

Vegan take-away V-Face, in Dublin’s Northside in Stoneybatter, also today announced that it will close this coming Sunday.

In a statement on social media, Ukiyo thanked all of its “amazing and loyal staff, both past and present for all they have contributed to building the legend that is Ukiyo”.

Ukiyo also thanked its DJs and suppliers who “supported and stuck by us over the last two decades”.

However, Ukiyo said its “biggest thank you is reserved to our customers who returned time after time”.

Ukiyo, on Dublin’s Exchequer Street, had been in business for around 20 years and noted that it “survived a pandemic, a stock market crash and lots of bumps along the road”.

However, it remarked that the “margins in our business are now so meagre that there is no future for us and so many more of our fellow businesses”.

Ukiyo noted that “three of our neighbours closed last week, all within fifty metres of each other”.

These three restaurants are Dylan McGrath’s Brasserie Sixty6, Rustic Stone and Bonsai Bar, all of which were on South Great George’s Street and closed last Thursday.

“All respected, long established and highly regarded on one of Dublin’s busiest thoroughfares,” said Ukiyo of these three recent and nearby closures.

“If this is not direct evidence of a systemic decline in our industry and in our immediate urban fabric then I don’t know what is,” it added.

Ukiyo also said it has “tried everything and given everything to this business but unless the government gets off its hands and helps the hospitality sector then we will certainly not be the last”.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) recently said that an “average of two restaurants, cafés and other food-led businesses continue to close each day across the country”.

The RAI has called for the reinstatement of the 9% VAT rate on food.

VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors was reduced to 9% during the Covid-19 pandemic, at a cost of €1.2bn to the exchequer.

The previous 13.5% rate was reinstated last September, despite the sector’s opposition.

Earlier this month, the Restaurants Association of Ireland said 577 restaurants had closed since the VAT rate was reinstated to 13.5%.

It added that in a recent survey of its members, 74% of respondents said they will have to close their businesses if the VAT rate on food is not reinstated to 9% in the Budget. 

In a statement to The Journal, Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said “the consistent closure of restaurants and other food-led businesses shows the ongoing effect that Government policies are having on the hospitality sector”.

He added that the “financial model for running restaurants and making a margin is broken with VAT at 13.5%” and that the RAI’s ask for Budget 2025 is to “restore confidence in the restaurant sector by reducing VAT to 9%”.

Ukiyo today remarked that “tourism and hospitality are the lifeblood of employment” and that if the Government “acts now, maybe more of our colleagues will keep their jobs and their businesses”.

“To do nothing will mean the death of our industry and a huge blow to the céad mile fáilte that we extend to Ireland’s visitors every year,” said Ukiyo.

“We have tried everything and given everything to this business but unless the government gets off its hands and helps the hospitality sector then we will certainly not be the last.”