Chef supplier waits for payment

Staff at the New Angel in Dartmouth were told on Friday last week that Sunday would be their last service.

Mr Burton Race, who re-launched the restaurant in 2004, was keeping tight-lipped about the closure.

But Tony Quick of Honiton-based Forest Produce said his firm was owed more than £12,000 by the restaurant.

Empty restaurant

Mr Quick told BBC News that he had not been paid for supplies to the restaurant since September.

He said: "The restaurant closure came as a shock.

"We had had trouble with getting paid earlier in the year, but we had been clawing back the debt."

A notice in the window of the restaurant states: "It is with deep regret that the New Angel restaurant and rooms will cease trading."

The restaurant was empty on Wednesday evening and Mr Race, 50, was not answering calls.

In March he left his wife Kim and their six children for Suzie Ward, 40, and their three-year-old son.

The restaurant has already been put up for sale as part of the divorce settlement.

A spokesman for Mr Race told the BBC he was "unable to make a comment without clarification from his divorce lawyer".

A member of staff at the restaurant, who did not want to be named, said he was "taken aback" when he was told the restaurant was closing.

He said Mr Race had been "excellent to work for."

"He is always upbeat and laughing," he said.

"I've only got good things to say about him."

Mr Burton Race was voted off the ITV show I'm a Celebrity... on Saturday.

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