Black Duck closes Oysterhead, no plans for cafe space in foreseeable future
It’s not a good year for Bridge Street restaurants. In addition to the ongoing closure and unknown future of Mel’s Tearoom, Oysterhead Tavern, formerly Moot Point Tavern and the Black Duck Cafe, has closed for the time being. Co-owner Al Barbour says he and his partner Sarah Evans are continuing to operate The Black Duck Bakery next door, which offers grocery items, baked goods, coffee and takeout meals. But Barbour says the couple doesn’t have any plans for the cafe space next door.
“Plans are kind of useless at this point,” says Barbour. “We’ve been operating for 10 years, various cafe, bistro, bar type operations. But we’ve come to the point now where we just can’t hire anyone.”
Barbour says he and Evans have shifted their business to a state where they can mostly run the Black Duck Bakery as more of a “mom and pop” shop, as opposed to the bustling cafe they once ran. The cafe space does not fit into that scale of operation, however.
“It’ll be mothballed,” says Barbour. “We might do something with it for fun in the future but as for the time being, it’s just going to sit here, unfortunately.”
In addition to issues finding people to work in the cafe and tavern businesses, Barbour says there have been other problems “snowballing” and compounding each other. He cites the ongoing pandemic, high rates of inflation, and supply chain issues.… Continue