ROCKINGHAM — There is currently one less downtown dining option, but city leaders hope to remedy that soon.
Hitchcock Pub and Grill closed for business late last week.
The restaurant, which was first announced in early December 2023, opened April 31, 2024 with Lewis Eakes at the helm.
Eakes managed restaurants in Seagrove and Robbins from 2015-2019 and started Salt & Pepper Catering, LLC in 2017. In the years before opening Hitchcock, he also worked at two Henry’s Uptown Cafe and Hudson Brothers Deli, both in downtown Rockingham.
The city owns the building — Hitchcock Place — and leased the space for Pattan’s Downtown Grille from 2015 until November 2023 when owners Tim and Julia Pattan announced they would be closing.
Before opening, Eakes spent several months making renovations, including the addition of a bar and waitress station in the back of the larger dining area.
In a Facebook post made in the afternoon of March 7, the restaurant posted:
“It is with very heavy hearts, we have had to close our restaurant. This was not on our own accord. We were asked to leave. So I’m so sorry for anyone hurt in the process. I thank everyone who did support us and I thank my employees who were there for us! I really hate we won’t be there anymore.”
That post was later taken down and on March 12 it appeared the page had been deactivated.
Rockingham City Manager told the RO on Tuesday that being “asked to leave” was not true.
“It was a mutual decision,” Crump said. “I just regret it didn’t work out.”
Crump added that he’s already in discussions with someone else to open a restaurant and hopes to be able to make an announcement soon.
Another local eatery, Seafoodie in Hamlet, also recently announced that it was closing on March 15.
Seafoodie was started in Durham by Dobbins Heights natives Kendale and Johnny Robinson. The food truck started operating in Richmond County in June of 2020, during the COVID pandemic.
There were plans to open a brick-and-mortar location in Hamlet while the food truck was run from the parking lot.
A March 8 Facebook post reads:
“Hamlet and the surrounding area has been so good to us over the years. The memories we have shared and the countless loyal customers we have grown with have given us enough to laugh and cry about for a lifetime. We have shared and celebrated birthdays, New jobs, Marriages Divorces, and watched as our children grew up. There are so many people to thank that we could never name them all.
“…We are sad to leave but excited about our next chapter and what is coming next for our brand. We do plan to continue to make Hamlet a priority as we expand into other areas across the state.”
