Edo Sushi: Why top Japanese restaurant is leaving Sheffield's Cutlery Works food hall

The boss of a top Japanese restaurant has explained why it is leaving a Sheffield food hall after five years.

Edo Sushi’s last day in Cutlery Works in Neepsend is Friday, August 11. Co-founder Tomo Hasegawa said it was due to a drop in customers post Covid and rising costs.

Three staff are being absorbed into the rest of the business, which includes an outlet in Kommune food hall in Castlegate. It also has a sister company, Roku, a popular Japanese restaurant on Burton Road in Neepsend, which runs sushi-making classes.

Tomo said: “We have been in Cutlery Works from the very start. The first two years were very busy, then we had the pandemic for two years. Business has been up and down ever since. Cutlery Works has capacity for 400 customers. The most difficult thing is always having to be staffed and stocked up ready for a busy day even if it isn’t.”

He added: ”We have had some good times in Cutlery Works for sure. Five years is a good amount of time to be in any location.”

Now they were looking for a standalone location for the business, he added.

Edo Sushi was set up by Tomo Hasegawa and Michael Simpson-Li 13 years ago.

It started doing takeaways from High Court Chambers off High Street in Sheffield city centre, as well as festivals like Tramlines. It also operated from the Wig and Pen pub on Campo Lane before it closed.