End of an era: Vancouver's Bishop's Restaurant has closed

© Provided by Vancouver Sun John Bishop at his home in Vancouver, BC, March 3, 2020.

The doors of the legendary Bishop’s Restaurant have been permanently closed.

In a statement posted to the restaurant’s website , the owners announced that the longtime Vancouver eatery has been shuttered after 36 years in operation.

Citing a “hefty rent increase,” Bishop says the idea of reopening after its last meal of 2021 was served on New Years Eve was “impossible to think about.”

“After nearly two years of COVID uncertainty we thought we had made it, but a new landlord and a whopping rent increase made it impossible to continue,” John Bishop, the owner of the restaurant, said in the statement.

“It turns out that Vancouver isn’t just an expensive place to live, it’s also an incredibly expensive place to do business, every restaurant and neighbourhood business knows that firsthand.”

Bishop announced his retirement in 2020 , before deciding to keep the restaurant open through the pandemic, pivoting to provide takeout meals. The dining room then reopened to guests.

© Arlen Redekop John Bishop and wife, Theresa, at their home in Vancouver on March 3, 2020.

The pandemic has proven difficult for many local restaurants due to closures and dining restrictions. Bishop points to the restaurant’s longtime customers as the ones who made it possible for the eatery to remain open as long as it has through the turbulent times.

“Regulars are everything in the restaurant business, and we had some of the most loyal customers in the province,” Bishop said. “We were not just a place to come for a special occasion, we had locals drop in throughout the week because they knew us and we knew them.

“With the help of our staff and customers, we made it through the worst of the pandemic.”

A champion of the sustainability and the farm-to-table movement, Bishop’s has been a fixture in the Vancouver restaurant scene.

“There’s a reason John Bishop is exalted and beloved,” says Mia Stainsby , a longtime food writer and Vancouver Sun columnist, says. “He was the first chef in Vancouver to get it —  the importance of cooking with seasonal, local, organic ingredients and he embraced it tightly and unwaveringly as the philosophy behind the food at his restaurant.

“He supported local sustainable farmers and producers and raised our consciousness about their worth in our society and in the making of transcendent restaurant meals.”

Saying Bishop was a “forward-thinking maverick” with his “strong ideas,” Stainsby says, adding the restaurant’s closure will be felt by Vancouver foodies.

“His restaurant demonstrated hospitality at its finest,” Stainsby says. “It’s sad he’s retiring the restaurant under duress as he still clearly loved it and people loved it back.”

The contents of Bishop’s Restaurant are set to be liquidated through an Able Auctions sale on Jan. 22 at 9:30 a.m., according to the website post. An auction preview will take place at the restaurant on Jan. 21 from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Aharris@postmedia.com