A POPULAR award-winning Newport restaurant has closed and is up for sale.

The Chandlery Restaurant has told customers in an email that it has shut up shop due to the economic climate.

The business, which has won a clutch of awards during its ten-year history, is being sold by agents Nuttall Parker but no figure has yet been decided.

The e-mail to customers said: “We have attempted to stay open for as long as possible.

“However, the economic climate has beaten us so we have been forced to cease trading.

“We would like to thank you for all your custom over the past few years.”

The Chandlery restaurant occupies a Grade II-listed building that was once the home of a ships’ chandlers.

Since opening in 2002 the restaurant has won UK Seafood Restaurant of the Year and was a True Taste of Wales regional award-winner in 2008.

The restaurant was known for using seasonal and local produce.

However, according to the Food Standards Agency website Newport council awarded the premises, listed as the Chandlery Bistro, a food hygiene rating of one out of five with major improvement necessary last July.

A one rating is one notch above the worst rating of zero.

It is understood that the current owners, David Miller and Mark Smith, bought the restaurant a few years ago.

Despite the closure the restaurant’s website was still showing meal offers yesterday – but no-one was answering the restaurant’s telephone and the Argus was unable to contact the owners.

The Chandlery’s closure comes after the Kings Hotel closed in early January this year following a “severe” downturn in trade.

The Kings Hotel building is now being sold by Savills of Cardiff.