A takeaway business in St Martins has closed after just six months.

Jon Tooke, who owned the fish and chip shop Silly Sausage, opened for business in April – but there was not enough custom to keep it going.

The shop, at Unit 3 Toll Bar, had breakfast options and iced drink machines as well as the normal fish and chip shop options. He said he even opened on Sundays – but it wasn’t enough.

Mr Tooke, 34, from St Martins, said: “My business was golden at first and we had fantastic prices for customers.

“But for the sake of our 15 regular customers, we just can’t afford to stay open.

“St Martins is a big village. We have more than 400 likes on our Facebook page – if a quarter of those people supported us by coming a few times a week, we would not be in this position.

“In my final weeks I was earning less than £40 a day.

“It has been a very expensive lesson learnt – I took a loan out for £13,000 and now I have to pay £350 a month for four and a half years to pay it back.

“It really is such a shame. I have been in the fish and chip business since I was 14. I don’t know what I can do – I can’t pay the rent and now I have to quickly sell all my equipment before the locks are changed.”

Mr Tooke had received five-star reviews on his Facebook page with positive comments on his service and food but feels the local community was not supporting enough.

Councillor Sue Schofield, former chairman of St Martins Parish Council, said: “I haven’t heard of any negativity around the business. As for support, we’ve got one chip shop in the town which has been here for years, so people are very loyal to that one.

“The only issue I can think of is the chip shop is close to the school. Children would like to eat there every day and I don’t know if this had been an issue for the school or parents.”