Downtown restaurant closes

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 1, 2008

FRANKLIN-Phinn’s Oyster Bar & Fresh Market, a downtown Franklin restaurant, closed its doors Monday after a year of operations.

Owner Dan Hunt said today that he declined to renew his lease on the building at Main Street and Second Avenue. He declined to discuss the reasons for the closure.

Hunt’s other business interest, Pace House Inn, will remain in operation. Hunt said chef Josh Enos will prepare dinner there on Friday and Saturday evenings except when the bed-and-breakfast is reserved for private functions.

The closure of Phinn’s, named for Hunt’s chocolate Lab, is the second loss of a downtown Franklin restaurant in a year. Grey Fox Restaurant, featuring Southwestern cuisine, closed last April. Owner Suk Hing Jen cited slow business and family obligations as her reasons for closing the restaurant at 401 N. Main St.