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The award-winning restaurant Mem-Saab in Leicester’s Highcross has closed down.

The owners at the restaurant in Highcross Street blame a rent rise for the decision to close the doors last night.

Pam Kooner, whose family have run the eaterie for 10 years at Highcross, said: “We are heartbroken but the rent rise means this place is just not financially viable any more.

“We put our heart and soul into the place but this is the end. It is so, so sad.

“We have had a big family meeting, with lots of tears shed, and we have taken the very difficult decision to close the doors for good.

“The rent has risen yet again and we just can’t afford to run our business there. We put blood, sweat and tears into this restaurant but the numbers do not add up now.”

The annual rent has been put up by Hammerson, a property development and investment company, which owns Highcross.

She said her family had run the restaurant, which employed 20 full-time and part-time staff, in Highcross Street since 2008.

They moved to Highcross Street after running the Mem-Saab in Vaughan Way from 1996 until the relocation.

Mem-Saab won the title of Best Spice Restaurant in the Midlands in the British Curry Awards in 2013 and was named Best Newcomer in 2010 in the same competition.

Pam said: “We closed the doors for the last time last night.

“We didn’t tell any of the customers and tried to have as normal a service as we could.

“We had nothing to celebrate so we did not tell anyone.”

Pam said she had telephoned and emailed customers to tell them about the closure.

She said: “It is a very sad day indeed. We have a lot of very loyal customers who are shocked by the closure.

“We would love to carry on but we just can’t with such a prohibitive a rent hanging over us.

“Laying off the loyal and talented staff is heartbreaking. We don’t know what we are going to do in the future.

“It is all too raw and too early to say what we will do next.”

LeicestershireLive has contacted Hammerson to try to get a comment on the situation.

The Mem-Saab restaurants in Nottingham, Leamington Spa and Northampton are unaffected by this closure.