RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Brewer’s Café in Manchester is shutting down, according to a Facebook post in which owner Ajay Brewer laid the blame on community backlash after his anti-abortion comments earlier this year.
“If anyone should be able to speak non-hateful, pro-life stances without his own people tearing him down, it should be a black man that grew up in the trenches,” Brewer wrote.
The trouble began for Brewer after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. In the wake of the ruling, Brewer said on Facebook, “Anybody else as happy as I am that they overturned Roe?”
According to Brewer, the “intolerance and hate” directed at him in the months since is part of the reason he is currently hospitalized with high blood pressure.
In August, Brewer posted a GoFundMe asking the community for $25,000 to keep the café open. That post makes no mention of the community backlash, instead citing the business’s recent move to a larger storefront on Hull Street as a major factor in their financial difficulties.
“In 2021, we had an opportunity to move to a bigger location which helped us logistically,” Brewer wrote. “What we did not foresee, is that it would be very difficult to attract enough traffic in the new location and make enough sales to keep the bills paid.”
Now, Brewer said he’s been served multiple eviction notices on both the Hull Street storefront and his own home.
Brewer added in his post announcing the cafe’s closure that Brewer’s Cold Pressed Juice and Brewer’s Coffee, two other businesses he operates, will remain open.
