The popular West Main Restaurant served its last meal Monday.
Owner Andy McClure plans to open another restaurant at the 33 W. Main Street location, but the restaurant and its scheduled opening date are undetermined.
The historic three-story building housed West Main for the last 11 years, McClure said, but he hopes to capitalize on the unique character of the 195-year-old building.
“It’s got a lot of character. One of the things I’ve always wanted to do is uncover that character,” McClure said. “It’s going to take a long time to do that, so I figured it should open as something other than West Main.”
West Main Restaurant is part of The Virginian Restaurant Company — also owned by McClure — which is comprised of West Main, The Biltmore, Citizen Burger Bar and The Virginian Restaurant.
McClure said he does not know what the future holds for the space, but the building will definitely influence what direction the new restaurant will take.
“West Main has always been an every persons’ bar, which is really cool,” McClure said. “But I think once we take everything down and get back to the base of the building, I think something is going to become apparent.”
The closing of the restaurant will not greatly influence the employees. Employees were given notice, McClure said, and The Virginian Restaurant Company was able to absorb the majority of the restaurant’s employees at its other restaurants.
“All of my restaurants, we all sort of share in what this company is all about. I do a lot of things as a restaurant group,” McClure said. “The whole thing can seem bittersweet because you never want to say goodbye to one of your restaurants, but sometimes it has run its course.”
After McClure graduated from the McIntire School of Commerce in 2001, he purchased The Virginian, where he had been a server while attending the University. Since then, McClure has opened a series of restaurants, and last year The Virginian Restaurant Company sold three of them.
Although McClure said he does not know what the new restaurant will entail, he said it will not be conducive to the large-scale social events previously held at West Main by University students in CIOs or Greek life.
“I’m not sure what is going to be the perfect fit yet,” McClure said. “I’m uncovering this as we speak.”
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