Depo Bar in Brisbane's West End shuts up shop

Depo Bar and Restaurant in West End, the collaboration between designer Alexander Lotersztain and chef and bike shop owner Erik van Genderen, has closed. The Horan Street venue shut down quietly on February 1.

According to van Genderen the venue, which opened in June 2013, had become financially unsustainable.

"We had a very slow start to the New Year and made the decision we needed to cut our losses and focus on something else," he says. "We've lost quite a bit of money."

Lotersztain, who is the landlord and runs his design business, Derlot, above Depo, says he is planning a "very aggressive expansion of his design business" and intends to expand his studio downstairs.

"As landlord of the space I needed to make a business decision and move my studio downstairs, as my office upstairs was getting too small," Lotersztain says.

Meanwhile, van Genderen says he will concentrate on his bike-shop business, and says he's in talks with other hospitality professionals about his next project.

A garage sale of the venue's rooftop honey equipment and kitchenware was held on Valentine's Day, with the remaining furniture, decorative items and kitchen equipment to go under the hammer through Laudiston Auctions in the first week of March.