A restaurant in north Norfolk is up for rent after the owner decided to close its doors "with a heavy heart".
Robert Mills opened Il Calabrese in 2018, three years after he purchased the building.
He self-funded the refurbishment of the building from a cottage into a restaurant and built the business, located in Franklyn's Yard in Holt, from the ground up.
"We've been trying to make it successful as long as possible but various things have happened to make it more difficult," he said.
"Especially when the recession hit it caused the food prices to go up and the electricity prices to go up - it has been quite hard to keep everything going.
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“But we hadn’t had a lack of customers, that wasn’t the case.
"When I started this restaurant I never wanted to make any fortune as I have other business to run – but there is a fine line between making a little bit of money and not making any money at all.
"At the end of the day, you have to decide whether it's viable to continue running something."
The restaurant will close on May 31 and is just opening for evening service until then.
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Mr Mills has decided to pass the space on, fully equipped on a maintain and replace agreement, to any "budding Gordan Ramsey" who would like to start their own business but does not have the capital.
"One of the biggest outlays for any restaurant is the initial cost of setting it up – buying the equipment, the seating, design, the cost for even a small restaurant is surprising.
"I’ve always tried to help other people start their businesses and this is the perfect opportunity."
The property is available to rent and Mr Mills has already received multiple enquiries.
He added: "One of the questions I ask myself is would I do it again, I would say it was worth it, I found some lovely people.
“I hope that whoever takes it over becomes really successful out of it, that would make me happy.
“You’ve got to make a positive out of a negative.”
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