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Customers left out of pocket after sudden closure of popular Brownhills restaurant

Diners have been left out of pocket in the wake of the sudden closure of a long-standing restaurant.

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The Terrace restaurant in Brownhills ceased trading on Monday.

There were claims that staff had made immediately redundant via Facebook but it has not been revealed why the restaurant has shut.

Some customers have been left with unspent gift vouchers while others have been forced to scramble around to find alternative venues for special events at short notice.

Bloxwich Ladies Probus Club has organised annual dinners at the traditional English restaurant, in Watling Street, for the past 15 years and had booked for 68 people to enjoy a meal at the venue on March 19.

Walsall Inner Wheel Club also had to find an alternative venue for an 80th anniversary dinner booked for 100 people in April.

Social secretary for the probus club, Pat Beckley said the meal had been booked for months and the group had now been left trying to find an alternative venue.

The 75-year-old, of Bloxwich, said she only found out about the closure when she was collecting money from members for the meal earlier this week.

She said: "They have my phone number and details but I have heard nothing at all from the restaurant.

"I was totally shocked. Now we will have to book a different venue. The members are disappointed."

Walsall Inner Wheel Club member Elizabeth Vodden said the club had booked around 100 places in April to celebrate its 80th anniversary.

Ms Vodden, of Chuckery, said: "We've had to make alternative arrangements. People are fed up. It has caused an awful lot of extra work. Fortunately, we've managed to book the Fairlawns."

Great grandmother-of-one Jo Blackwell, of Short Heath, said she had been left with a £40 gift voucher. The 73-year-old said: "It's such as shame. I can't believe it has closed.

"I feel sorry for people who may have paid in advance for weddings and parties."

Checkout assistant Susan Smith, aged 59, of Brownhills, said she also had a £40 voucher for the venue after receiving it from friends for her ruby wedding anniversary.

The mother-of-two, who has been using the venue for 15 years, said: "We were going to use it in March or April but if you phone the restaurant you get an automated message saying it has ceased trading.

"It was such a good restaurant. My friends are a bit sick over it. It was something they knew we would enjoy."

Greta Clayton, from Cannock, had been due to go the venue on Saturday with her husband David and had even bought a new dress for the occasion.

The 46 year-old said: "It was the first place my husband took me. We went last Christmas so it has been a bit of shock. It is a real shame."

And Maureen Gough, 74, and her husband George, 76, had been given a £25 voucher by neighbours to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. The couple, of Rushall, were planning to visit the restaurant in the coming weeks.

Mrs Gough said: "I feel bad for everyone who gave us the money as it has been lost now."

The restaurant is believed to have operated under its current name since the 1980s.

The restaurant could not be contacted today.

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