A boss of the popular former Italian restaurant in Burton has been inundated with support from well-wishers following the closure of the business.
Jacqueline Martiniani, popularly known to customers at Pettie, ran Enrico's alongside her ex-husband Eric for 16 years. She says personal and health reasons forced the closure of the restaurant based in New Street, in the town, earlier this month.
The building, which once housed Lucy's Café in the 1970s, has now been advertised as available to let.
Since the closure was revealed in the Burton Mail, readers have been flockingour the website and Facebook page to comment on their sadness at the news.
Julie Adams wrote: "Sad to say the least. We have lost a great restaurant. I will miss the banter with Eric; he is an amazing chef. Pettie ran the front of house with precision and there was always a smile and a chat for everyone. You don’t know how much you will be missed.
"You both will have to come to our house and cook for us on birthdays, anniversaries and any other excuse we can find. We wish you all good wishes for your future no matter what it holds for you."
Maggie Boston said: "Gutted, absolutely gutted! As far as I'm concerned it's always been the best, most intimate Italian restaurant in town. And the food was to die for."
Emily Adams agreed, saying: "Really was, and will be my favourite restaurant. It will be really missed for me and my family who have been going there for years."
Kwan Cheung added: "Sad news. Genuine independent Italian restaurant closed."
Ex-staff member Louise-anne Willshee said: "This makes me so incredibly sad. Made me the confident person I am today. Treated all the staff like their own children."
Ally Jones said: "This was our 'go to' restaurant before the kids. Shame it’s shutting, we always had lovely food.”
Mrs Martiniani has now thanked her past customers for their well-wishes.
She told the Burton Mail: "It is nice to see the nice comments and we did have some lovely regulars that supported us through the 16 years we were there."
She added that they were not looking to get into any other business ventures, saying that she now works at a hospitality company.
Burton Estate agent Rushton Hickman is now marketing the building and said it would be suitable for uses such as retail, cafe, or a bar subject to change of use planning consent where necessary.
The building has a trading area approximately 773 sq ft (71.9 sq metres). It also contains a kitchen, store and toilets.
The premises fronts on to a car park which is pay and display at the weekends and evenings. During the week it used by permit holders.
