Northside Lexington business announces restaurant closing, blames rising housing costs
Broomwagon, the north side bicycle shop that has a coffee shop and cafe, will be paring things down.
The business on the corner of Loudon and Limestone, across from Greyline Station, announced on social media on Monday that the restaurant will stop serving food after Nov. 11.
The bicycle sales and repair portion of the business is staying put.
The North Lexington bike shop and cafe opened at 800 N. Limestone in September 2015 and served coffee, tea, fruit smoothies, sandwiches and wraps, including vegetarian and vegan options.
Broomwagon said that “Cranksgiving,” an event planned for this weekend, “will be the cafe’s last day for food.” Coffee and smoothies will be available until the end of the year.
A new restaurant is moving into the cafe space in January, according to the post.
Why is Broomwagon’s cafe closing? “Restaurants aren’t easy; they never have been. But with the skyrocketing cost of living, our model and menu have just not been sustainable. It is a harsh economic reality that our cafe staff can no longer afford to live in our neighborhood on the money that the cafe has been bringing in even during busy times,” according to the post. “We hope to see affordable housing return to Lexington and we would like to encourage everyone that is saddened by this closure to call on city council to bring about policy changes and property tax structures that prevent rent gouging and real-estate monopolies.”
Greyline ice skating rink, restaurants
The closing of the restaurant adds to the changing dining landscape of North Lexington.
Julietta Market, one of the signature tenants of Greyline Station, left the venue at the end of October. A number of food vendors left at that time to make room for a winter ice skating rink but some are graduating from Julietta Market’s stalls into Greyline storefronts. Others, like Rise Up Pizza, closed and is taking over the kitchen space at Horse and Jockey Pub downtown on Short Street.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 4:10 PM.
