Staff have spoken of their devastation after losing their jobs when a Beeston restaurant suddenly closed. Ottimo, a 150-seater Italian restaurant, shut with immediate effect without warning just weeks before Christmas.
Workers were told the bombshell news that an investor had pulled out when they turned up for their shift on November 30. The restaurant had been open for just seven months. The first food and drink venture to open beneath the Arc Cinema at the town's £50m Beeston Square development, it served pasta, pizza and Sunday roasts.
They said the restaurant seemed busy and was earning good reviews so the turn of events came as a huge shock. One of the chefs, who asked not to be named, said: "We had no idea this was going to happen. The place was doing very well. I went in to do my shift and one of the directors, who doesn't normally come in, was there and he told us we had all lost our jobs.
