Baffi has announced it’s closing its Portswood pizza restaurant, opposite Sainsbury’s on Portswood Road, “with immediate effect”.
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It puts the blame on rising business rates and a recent rent review “doubling our current rent”, according to a sign posted in the window.
The sign reads:
“It is with great sadness with immediate effect we are closing our Baffi site in Portswood, Southampton.
“With rising business rates and our recent rent review doubling our current rent it is no longer viable to keep Baffi Portswood open.
“We’d like to thank all our loyal customers and a special thank you to the Italian community who have supported us over the last 2 years.”
The branch opened in the summer of 2017, and currently mentions three other branches on its website, at Canford Cliffs, Southbourne, and “Old Town Poole”.
The building in its former guise as a Lloyds Bank branch
The building remained empty for a period before opening as Baffi following the closure of Lloyds Bank in August 2015 .
There have been two applications to extend the “locally listed” building in recent years, one in January 2017 to create two further storeys for eight flats , which was withdrawn , and one in 2019 for one further storey for four one-bed flats, which was refused.