Red Lantern completed its last dinner service last night, Sunday, December 9th at 235 Shrewsbury Street in Worcester. One block away, British Beer Company, located at 225 Shrewsbury Street, recently announced that it is also closing up shop to make room for the future home of Mexicali Mexican Grill.
This marks the latest in a number of Central Mass restaurant closings including Kummerspeck and The Citizen Wine Bar.
With 54 new common victualer licenses awarded in Worcester during 2017 alone, closings are not unusual. The common victualer license permits establishments to cook, prepare, and serve food, making it a good indication of the volume of new eateries opening in any given year. According to the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, restaurants added 88,000 jobs across the US in October 2017.
