Ron Macgillivray has been operating Fable Diner on the corner of Main and Broadway since 2016, putting everything he’s had into making the restaurant work, even selling his house.
But after surviving the pandemic, the seemingly never-ending construction outside his front door has pushed him to close.
“To hold out for so long, I feel like a sucker, a little bit,” Macgillivray said.
“Been paying taxes, paying stuff, and just not being able to see it to the end, it sucks.”
Macgillivray’s struggles began in 2020, when construction of the Broadway Subway Project got underway. This led to numerous month-long road closures, diverting traffic and customers, and many businesses in the area took a major financial hit.
Neil Wyles with the Mount Pleasant BIA says it has been like a “slow-moving train crash” for owners in the area.
“These businesses quietly close, go away, but these families and people are left with this financial burden,” Wyles said.
While the road has since partially reopened along the section of Broadway near Fable Diner, impacts linger, with the Subway Project now two years behind schedule. As a result, Macgillivray said he had no choice but to speak to the landlord of the building to get out of the lease and cancel debt obligations, saying it was the only way forward.
“We just felt, without knowing when the construction is going to be done and the sales just not coming back, that we wouldn’t make it until the SkyTrain is finished,” Macgillivray said.
“So we decided to kind of cut our losses at this point and just try and survive with as much money as we have left after.”
Over the past six years, there have been numerous calls to the province to support folks directly impacted by this construction. However, the government has previously stated it does not provide compensation for disruptions arising from construction.
But Wyles points out the businesses are looking for help, not handouts.
“Our government has just been sitting on their hands saying, ‘There’s nothing we can do, there’s nothing we can do,’” he said.
As for Fable Diner, there are hopes they might be able to host pop-ups or open a food truck in the future. But for now, the restaurant’s last day of service will be Aug. 23.
