A popular fish and chip restaurant has closed its doors for good on Saturday (November 12) as its Michelin-star owner served his final meal at the restaurant.

Whitby’s Michelin-listed Star Inn the Harbour brought sadness to staff and regulars last month after it announced it would be closing down. 

And on Saturday (November 12) the final day of trading came, as diners flocked to the venue to try and get the final meal at the restaurant.

The much-loved venue is part of the Star Group of Restaurants which includes the Michelin star-listed The Star at Harome, The Star Inn the City and The Winter Hutte, York.

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Restauranteur, Andrew Pern, who owns the restaurants, has blamed Scarborough Borough Council for the closure, touting the “utter lack of support” during the pandemic.

Mr Pern said it is with “great sadness and a heavy heart that we have decided to close The Star Inn the Harbour.”

Speaking on the lack of support during Covid, Mr Pern said: "The most damaging and miserable fact that marks their card is that they took rent from us and most other businesses in the town during lockdown when we didn't have a penny coming in - how greedy and shortsighted is that in a place which relies heavily on tourism and hospitality?”

"We should not really have been surprised by their lack of support as we tried to work, albeit unsuccessfully, with Scarborough Borough Council from when we first started developing The Star Inn the Harbour in 2016 and then from the day we opened the restaurant.”

The Northern Echo: Andrew Pern. Picture: NORTHERN ECHOAndrew Pern. Picture: NORTHERN ECHO (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

Mr Pern argued that it had been “a continuous battle as all the positive factors that swayed us to be involved initially have never come to fruition.”

He added: “If anything they have damaged our chances of survival rather than encouraged them, and, coming into winter and with the council's decision to not help us in anyway, we will bring this Whitby chapter to a close for the time being."

The owners continued thanked customers for their “support” and also thanked “all the fantastic staff.”

The Star Inn at Harome, which was ravaged by a fire that left it closed for a year, is due to fully re-open at the end of November.

The Winter Hutte, a pop-up two-storey Swiss-style chalet in York city centre, is due to open on November 17.

In response to Mr Pern's claims, a spokesperson for Scarborough Borough Council said: “We are sad to hear about the decision to close the Star Inn the Harbour in Whitby but to blame it on us is unfair.

“We have been working closely with the restaurant for several months to ensure it can continue to trade during difficult times.

“At the restaurant’s request we renegotiated the terms of its tenancy.  Those terms were agreed in good faith but the restaurant recently walked away.

“Our local support for the restaurant has been in addition to the national help it was eligible for such as Covid grants and the government furlough scheme.

“As the custodian of public money, there will always be a limit to the help we can provide to individual businesses."

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