Popular city centre restaurant set to close

The "iconic" World Service red gate, which has seen customers pass through it for 24 years, will be locked for good on Saturday

A fine dining restaurant is set to serve its final meals and close on its 24th anniversary.

World Service, in Nottingham city centre, announced the closure in June due to changes in people's dining habits and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.

Co-owner Dan Lindsay said the restaurant had been fully booked for weeks since the announcement, saying it had been "absolutely flat out".

Former members of staff have even returned to help World Service cope with increased demand before its distinctive red gate, which customers walk through to access the restaurant, shuts for good on Saturday.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Lindsay said: "It's been a huge outpouring of emotion and love and support from so many people, it's been really humbling.

"We've had customers in tears and it's an honour to have people so appreciative of what we've done."

The restaurant has been running for 24 years

Mr Lindsay said tying the final service with the restaurant's birthday "makes sense".

"I can't imagine what it's going to feel like, we're all very emotional," he said.

"My general manager has been with me pretty much since we opened, so I'm going to give him the honours of locking the red gate after the last people leave and then we'll all sit down and take it in and have a few drinks, celebrate the good times we've had here.

"My team has been amazing, I'm so proud. Everybody has worked tirelessly and has that goal to give the restaurant the send-off it deserves and seeing it through to the end."

The Castle Gate eatery has won multiple awards

Mr Lindsay previously said fine dining was "not as popular as it used to be", but acknowledged that the cost of living was "very real", with no business immune.

He added: "Fine dining is a challenge. It's labour-intensive if you're busy or not so busy, you need the numbers there and it is tricky, it's easier to manage costs in a simpler operation.

"With the demand we've had, it does show there is that passion for it but with less disposable income, people maybe don't come here twice a year, they come here once.

"But it's unusual for restaurants to last this long. If someone had said when we opened we'd still be going 24 years later, I'd have said they were crazy."

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