A wine bar which brought a little piece of France to Norwich has announced it is to merge with another independent cafe in the city.

Eastern Daily Press: Les Garrigues French restaurant, in St John Maddermarket, will soon be closing and merging with Louis Deli, in Upper St Giles, to become Louis.Picture: ANTONY KELLYLes Garrigues French restaurant, in St John Maddermarket, will soon be closing and merging with Louis Deli, in Upper St Giles, to become Louis.Picture: ANTONY KELLY (Image: Archant Norfolk 2018)

Les Garrigues plans to leave its current premises in Saint John Maddermarket Street on August 4, ahead of a move to Louis Deli in Upper St Giles Street come September.

The move will see the owner of Les Garrigues Damien Cabanis take on the running of the Upper St Giles Street cafe, bringing on board Clement Sigaut, from Smashing Wines in Woodbridge, to help run the business.

Graham Charlesworth, the current owner of Louis' Deli, will retire.

Mr Cabanis explained the decision to relocate to Louis' Deli was triggered by the break clause of his premises' lease coming to an end: 'I will carry on with what I am doing here, with wines from natural vineyards and just try to bring a little bit of French influence to Upper St Giles.'

Opening in its new home in September the change will see Louis' Deli become Louis', operating as a cafe by day and extending its opening hours to offer the 'Les Garrigues' experience in the evenings.

Mr Cabanis said: 'Graham has been a very big influence, almost like a father figure and a strong supporter. We have often talked about me moving to Louis'.'

Mr Cabanis, talking about how the French wine bar had been received since it opened in 2015, said: 'I was quite amazed how quickly the people visited the shop and then kept coming back and became regular customers.

'The idea was to offer wines at a price which were not restaurant prices and to have wines which were better than restaurant prices.

'A lot of people have said coming here is like coming on holiday.'

Mr Charlesworth, 79, said he was excited about what the future held for Louis' Deli: 'Louis' Cafe has been open for 20-odd years during which it has had six custodians and I'm the most recent person to look after it.

'I'm delighted that something is going to change and change for the better and Damien is going to be the one to do that.'