Leigh Oaktree restaurant closed doors after a decade

Jim and Samantha Anderson were ahead of their time when they launched the Oaktree Restaurant, in Leigh Road, back in 2013 and it was an uphill battle to begin with. 

However, the committed couple persevered despite welcoming just 11 diners a day initially before popularity skyrocketed. 

In the last five years the “vegan boom” has seen countless specialist vegan restaurants pop up across the country and prior to closing for the final time this week Jim and Samantha welcomed 65 customers a day. 

The Oaktree found success in plant-based dishes (Image: The Oaktree)

Plant-based cuisine was much less popular when the restaurant first opened, and Jim is proud of the progress the Oaktree made in developing a strong customer base.

Now, the couple are ramping up their search for a new ambitious owner to take on the Oaktree and continue its success as a vegan restaurant. 

“We had incredible support from the local community and were the biggest vegan restaurant in Essex,” Jim said.

Owners Jim and Samantha even appeared on Come Dine with Me: The Professionals (Image: The Oaktree)

“Since we announced that we were closing on the Friday before bank holiday, we’ve had people queuing round the door all weekend to eat here for the last time.”

Jim described the decision to end the Oaktree’s successful run as “gutting, genuinely gutting”, but accepts that “it was always going to end at some point, and we couldn’t carry on forever”.

Despite the restaurant’s popularity with the community in Leigh, owning a vegan restaurant presented a series of challenges, particularly in the early days of the business. 

“Just by the very nature of us existing, we annoyed people. You have to have a thick skin to own a restaurant, and you have to have a very thick skin to own a vegan restaurant,” said Jim.

After the trials and tribulations of running a restaurant for 11 years, Jim and Samantha are now looking ahead to relaxing as they travel the world.  

Jim added: “We’re heading to Albania and Thailand on the first of October; they’re quite random places but we’re going to visit some other places in between.”

Although he appreciates that the direction chosen by future owners is largely out of his control, Jim stressed that he “would love it to carry on as a vegan restaurant. It’s all set up and the new owners could just take the keys and get going”.