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Restaurant owner talks decision to shutter uptown BBQ joint

CHARLOTTE — Queen City Q owner Bryan Meredith locked the doors of his uptown restaurant for the last time on Sunday.

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He knew he was out of options; 2020 had delivered blow after blow, starting with a Covid-19 pandemic-imposed shutdown. Then, just as business resumed, civil unrest and protests hit uptown. The last hit came with the likely loss of the Republican National Convention.

“You fight the fight and when it’s over it’s over,” Meredith says. “It’s just been a perfect storm against small business.”

Queen City Q was the first barbecue restaurant in uptown, opening at 225 E. Sixth St. in 2012. Meredith and his business partners weighed taking out an additional $250,000 in loans just to stay afloat. But with no timetable for business and activities to return to uptown — or a path for Queen City Q’s future success — they made the heartbreaking decision to close.

“It made zero sense to borrow money. Not only would we have been hurting ourselves, we would have been hurting someone else, too,” Meredith.

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