Cash crisis sees restaurant close after a month

A BAR and restaurant in Sutton Coldfield which only opened last month has closed after the money ran out.

The Arts House, in Holland Street, – billed as an ‘experience-creating venue’ with fine food, drinks and jazz music – was the ‘ dream’ of local businessman, Darren Ratcliffe.

But the venture quickly turned into a nightmare, with The Arts House shutting its doors last week.

The 44-year-old father-of-two said: “With great regret and sadness we have had to close our doors for financial reasons.

“It is really a mixture of contractor delays meaning we couldn’t open for all menus all week with ongoing work, lack of planned weekday trade and lots of unforeseen costs during refurbishment.

“We have had to disappoint a fantastic team that have been so committed over the three months of preparation and trading and lots of our customers who have future bookings.

“We have built a truly special and unique venue for Sutton but the dream is over before it had a chance to begin and has lost us everything.”

Mr Ratcliffe said he, along with an investor, had ploughed £300,000 into the venture, revamping the former Turmeric Jones restaurant with a new bar, kitchen, stage and decor.

But the businessman ran out of cash and did not have enough customers in the opening weeks to bring in the cash needed to keep it open.

“Cash flow has always been tight. We were relying on people coming through the door. We weren’t delivering anything in the day,” Mr Ratcliffe said.

“We were busy at weekends but the kitchen wasn’t ready, it wasn’t fully built and the outside decking wasn’t ready.”

He added: “Hopefully in the next couple of months someone can take on the project or someone can relaunch it close to Christmas.

“The venue is ready for somebody. We have a 10-year lease,” he said.