One of the city's popular weddings and events venues will officially shut its doors by the end of the month for its owners to focus on what they do best - pizza.
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The Forge director Tim Matthews has confirmed the business' adjoining Housey Housey venture was set to close after a decision that had been a long time coming but one they were comfortable in making.
There are plans underway to continue expanding The Forge, looking further afield than Ballarat.
Mr Matthews said the COVID-19 pandemic had sparked the team to consider where to sharpen a focus and expanding on what they really wanted to do.
"Obviously pizzas," Mr Matthews said.
"...When the lease came up [for the Housey Housey space] we weren't really interested in doing an events space with The Forge anymore.
"There are lots of memories of special events and weddings for lots of people in Housey Housey and they're important to us ... our focus is pizza and making sure our main thing in the main thing."
Mr Matthews said Housey Housey had stopped taking bookings a while ago while they were exploring options and making certain of a final decision to close the venue.
Options included looking into the dance studio above Housey Housey as to whether this could also be a viable events space.
Mr Matthews said overheads, upgrades and re-imagining the spaces "couldn't stack up".
He said the best thing was to offer the space up to keep vibrancy in the busy Armstrong Street precinct.
IN OTHER NEWS
Housey Housey, which opened in 2014, had also transformed into well-known summer feature The Salad Fix.
The salad venture started as a pandemic pivot for the business but has been returning in summer months.
Mr Matthews said The Salad Fix brand would remain active but needed the right space and investigations were underway to find options.
Brothers Chris and Tim Matthews opened The Forge Pizzeria's flagship Sturt Street store in Alfredton in 2010 and expanded into its Armstrong Street restaurant two years later.
The Forge has been a key player in the evolution of Ballarat's Armstrong Street foodie precinct the past decade.
A Victoria Street pizzeria opened last summer as part of an emerging new Ballarat East shopping destination.
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