Salisbury House closes on Esplanade Riel

One of Winnipeg's most uniqueSalisbury House restaurants has been closed for good.

The Sal's, which has been located in the spaceship-looking structure on the Esplanade Riel pedestrian bridge for seven years,shut its doors on Dec. 31.

Sal's owner Earl Barish wanted to keep the restaurant openandagreed to the city's terms, but it decided not to renew the lease.

The city has since put out an expression of interest (EOI), looking for a new tenant.

Barish doesn't think the city will have much success finding a new tenant because it's a hard location to maintain and operate a restaurant.

"It has no parking, it has many months when you do no business, andyou have utility costs there that are very special to that location. It's a very challenging kind of location to make profitable," he said.

Sal's was able to stay open because, Barish said,he absorbedthe restaurant's losses.

The deadline for applications for the city's EOI is 4 p.m. on Jan. 31.