Lettonie closes its doors

One of the West Country's most prestigious restaurants has closed its doors after 13 years.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

Chef Martin Blunos has shut the two-Michelin-starred Lettonie in Bath, which he opened in 1997 after trading for nine years under the same name in Bristol.

The closure comes only five months after Blunos was appointed as a consultant by Chase Hotels to oversee the restaurant at its newly-refurbished Dukes Hotel in Bath, and also amid a blossoming TV career for the chef, with his distinctive handlebar moustache.

Advanced bookings for Lettonie from tourist parties from America and Japan are thought to have been hit by the foot-and-mouth outbreak. Trade is expected to be further reduced following the World Trade Center attacks in New York.

Blunos has not revealed his plans, but he and his wife Sian and their three children are expected to stay in the Bath area.

Gidleigh Park in Devon is now the region's only Michelin two-star restaurant.