Boston Marathon Bombing Landmark Forum Restaurant Closing Its Doors

Owners of the Boylston Street restaurant say it will close on March 1

A landmark in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Forum Restaurant will be closing its doors on March 1, its owners confirmed.

Boston Nightlife Ventures, the company that owns the restaurant among others, cites rising rent at the 755 Boylston St. location as the reason it's closing Forum.

Forum rents space from building owner 755 Boylston LLC. We reached out to that company's manager, Paul Roff, through his office at Heath Properties in Boston, but we did not get a response before this story went online.

"Very welcoming. Great food, great spirits. So, it's disappointing," Paul Kamisky, of Middleton, Massachusetts, carved a recent memory at Forum. "It's one of the reasons we chose to come here. And be in this area when we do team events, we think about those things and we actually reminisce about it, as well," he said.

For worse, Forum is indelibly tied to the day that darkened Boston. For better, only as an inspiration of rising up in the months that followed that second blast on April 15, 2013. Now a year and a half after renovations, the owners have made the decision to close the Back Bay restaurant down.

"It's sad, but sad to see no one in there. Tough, tough winter," said Daniel Fitzpatrick, of Somerville, Massachusetts.

"I don't think it's right. I think they should keep it open. Lower the rent," said Zack Elrhoul, of Somerville, Massachusetts.

Emily Holland of Londonderry, New Hampshire, whose aunts have run the Boston Marathon, said, "I think it's sad, because it's obviously like a big part of the history of Boston now."

Nancy Socol, who lives a few blocks away from the Forum on Huntington Avenue, said, "I hate to see something like that happen after they went through what they went through with the bombings ... It took them a long time to come back. They were one of the last places that opened after the horror. So it's sad. I don't know how else to characterize it. I feel bad for them."

The group that owns Forum also owns the Tap Trailhouse near Faneuil Hall, Wink & Nod in the South End, and Griddlers Burgers & Dogs on Cambridge Street at the foot of Beacon Hill.

One of two bombs in the April 2013 attack exploded in front of the restaurant. Three people were killed in the explosions, and more than 260 others were injured. The trial of the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is currently undergoing voir dire in jury selection.

Contact Us