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Usain Bolt's Tracks & Records bar and restaurant in Spitalfields to shut down as pandemic restrictions bite

Usain Bolt opened the venue in 2018 (David Benett)
Usain Bolt opened the venue in 2018 (David Benett)

Olympic champion Usain Bolt's City music bar and restaurant today revealed it is to permanently close as the pandemic continues to hit central London hospitality.

Tracks and Records opened in October 2018 on Middlesex Street with a launch party attended by celebrities including Idris Elba.

The Caribbean-style venue was the athlete's first foodie venture outside of his native Jamaica, where he still oversees venues in Kingston and Montego Bay.

But it shuttered when lockdown was imposed in March and has not reopened since.

The sprinter outside the Tracks & Records venue near Liverpool Street  AMR Corp/ Usain Bolt
The sprinter outside the Tracks & Records venue near Liverpool Street AMR Corp/ Usain Bolt

A spokesperson for AMR Corp, the sprinter's joint venture partner in the restaurant, said: “Unfortunately, in light of the Coronavirus pandemic, it is no longer viable to continue to operate Tracks and Records with new trade restrictions in place.

"We have had some great times here on Middlesex Street and cannot thank enough our customers and those who have supported us over the last two years.”

Property agent Davis Coffer Lyons has been appointed to find a new operator for the space by Liverpool Street Station.

The interior of the bar and restaurant on Middlesex Street Giampiero D'Antonio
The interior of the bar and restaurant on Middlesex Street Giampiero D'Antonio

Senior director, Jonathan Moradoff, said he believes that “Middlesex Street and other eastern City fringe locations around Spitalfields and Shoreditch will continue attract hip independent and multiple operators" in spite of current Covid-19 restrictions.

He cited the "strong demographic cross section of ‘City types’, younger audiences and affluent residents" still drawn to the area, a buzzing and growing hub pre-pandemic.

The news comes as London hospitality venues continue to see trade hammered by Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced last week that grants of up to £2,100 a month will be available for bars and restaurants in Tier 2, where a combination of a 10pm curfew and a ban on meeting friends from other households has damaged intakes.

The funding can be put towards rent or salary bills, and amounts to seven-tenths of a £3,000 grant paid to firms ordered to close, such as London’s nightclubs.

The Government is also to double its wage subsidies in all sectors for workers forced to go part time under the new Job Support Scheme, which is set to replace furlough after 31st October.

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