Eighteen months after opening the Gourmet Burger Kitchen on the Ocean Plaza has closed its doors.

The windows are blanked out and the outdoor furniture removed.

In February 2017 Qlocal was invited to the opening night and back then we were not impressed.

Qlocal was invited to the opening night of Southport's newest restaurant "The Gourmet Burger Kitchen" on the Ocean Plaza.

The burgers come in all shapes and sizes along with sides etc.The extensive menu caters for all.

After being seated the waitress took our drinks order then you decide what you want to eat and order at the bar.

Having ordered "The Stack" it was slightly disappointing to find it was one burger a small piece of chorizo sausage and an onion ring...hardly a "Stack". Chips were extra or sides as they are called rather like Nandos.

A big drawback of places like this is you pay before you eat so there is little comeback if you are not happy.

The bill for this "Gourmet Burger" for two people was an eye watering £35.90.

There are far better places to eat in Southport with superior food for less money.

We don't do "Food" in this country we think we "Do" but we don't. Italy, France they do food its in their culture not ours and never will be.

The loss of this place won't be noticed, probably a God send, apart from the staff.

No loss to the culinary delights by a long shot.

Perhaps the negative review put people off.

GBK has been in trouble for a while and has closed other outlets too.

I think any eating place at Ocean Plaza must be tough to run at a profit.There are so many, although few any good, for what is really not a very large footfall.

GBK's concept was that people might pay "steak" prices for a good burger. I would often prefer a good burger to an indifferent steak, but I wouldn't pay £14 plus sides for it.

To make matters worse for GBK other lookalikes, such as Byron, came in, while many of the chains like "Flaming" put a lot of effort into enhancing their burger offering.

Personally I think that the word Gourmet in front of Burger is a contradiction in terms. To me a burger is something to eat at a barbeque if there is nowt else on offer and then it has to have fried onions with it.
When I was young it was called a Hamburger, whether it ever had any ham in it, I don't know.