Acclaimed Winnipeg restaurant Segovia permanently closes its 'big wooden' doors

One of Winnipeg's most prominent restaurants is done.

The operators of Segovia announced in an Instagram post Wednesday evening they will cherish the memories created at the little Spanish tapas bar in Osborne Village, but they are closed for good.

"We are terribly sad to let you know that we have made the difficult decision to close the big wooden doors at Segovia permanently," the post said.

"We are sad that we didn't get to have a really good closing up party and that we served our last service without knowing that it was our last."

The dark candlelit restaurant on Stradbrook Avenue was known as a place to peck at appetizers over fancy drinks.

It has been among Winnipeggers' top places to dine for more than a decade.

Since its opening in 2009,it hasbeen hailed as one of the city's best restaurants by publications ranging from Maclean's magazine to The Guardian.

The restaurant's website says it initially closed its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Wednesday's social media post did not cite COVID-19 as a reason for permanently closing.

Manitoba businesses have been struggling to meet bottom lines, including in the food services industry,due to the COVID-19 pandemic and provincial public health orders in place that forced non-essential services to close and continue to restrict large gatherings to no more than 10 people.

In a mid-Aprilinterview, Shaun Jeffrey, executive director of the Manitoba Restaurantand Foodservices Association, said businesses that were unable to take advantage of take-out and delivery found themselves scrambling to put systems into place, or getting squeezed out and forced to go dark.

CBC News has reached out to Adam Donnelly, a graduate of Red River College's culinary arts program who has beenat the helm of the restaurant, for comment.