Inside the two-story Thistle & Grouse at 10 Cotton St. in Portland. Courtesy of Thistle & Grouse Insurmountable money problems have forced Old Port upscale gastropub Thistle & Grouse to close its doors for good, just 10 months after launching, according to the owner.
The two-story, 5,000-square-foot restaurant opened last December at 10 Cotton St., the location of the former Rivalries sports bar. Chef-owner Bobby Will said Friday that the restaurant closed “quietly” as of last Sunday, though he announced the development on Instagram Friday .
Will and co-owner Kimberly Kraus took over the space in February of 2023, aiming to launch by July or August of 2023, because they figured it would simply need cosmetic upgrades. “We were sold on it being turnkey, and it was not,” he said. “We were met with hurdles from the minute we started the process.
” Will said they had to update the restaurant’s electrical and plumbing systems and add sprinklers and fire alarms. “It all went downhill from there, and it slowed us down significantly,” he said. “We ran horribly over budget.
We were financially drowning from the get-go with the build-out.” The financial climate of the past winter added to their challenges, Will said. “We trudged through a really rough, slow winter, with inflation making people unable to dine out as much as they had in the past,” Will said.
“When wallets are tight, people usually go to places that they know are safe bets, and because we were th.
