What next for city restaurant?

Ba Shoh, one of Peterborough’s biggest and plushest city centre restaurants, remained closed today more than a week after it unexpectedly failed to open for business. The outside seating has gone, the curtains are drawn, and a sign on the door of the premises in Broadway says it is to undergo a “major refurbishment”.

Ba Shoh was heralded as a bright new star on the Indian cuisine scene in Peterborough when it opened two years ago . A huge and costly refurbishment of the former Imperial Bento Chinese restaurant pushing the building’s owners’ investment to around £2million - saw the dawn of a new era and a high-end a la carte menu to match the stunning venue. It was not all plain sailing, however, and earlier this year a new management team and new head chef relaunched Ba Shoh as a multi-cuisine restaurant and cocktail bar - adding Chinese, Thai and Mexican to the Indian offering. A spokesman at the time said: “We have come to the conclusion that there is not the market for Indian restaurants in Peterborough that we anticipated, so we are moving in a different direction. We have also listened to customers who remember the building when it was Imperial Bento and have asked about Chinese and Thai food.” No one from Ba Shoh has so far commented.

The closure - temporarily or otherwise - is a blow for the city centre which has seen its restaurant offering blossom over the past couple of years Turtle Bay, Middletons and the Queen’s Head have opened this year alone. Both Turkish restaurant Efes and Chinese buffet restaurant Dim Sum have closed for good in recent weeks, as did Mai Thai, although that has since been replaced by Tavan, offering Middle Eastern cuisine.