JUST three years after it opened, Southampton Indian restaurant Café Mumbai has gone bust.

The Bedford Place eatery opened with a fanfare following a £1m conversion in 2006 aiming to “add a modern twist to traditional Indian cuisine”.

It was the dream of directors Salam Tarafdar, Bozlur Rahman, Richard Mandair and Sarbjit Khela but could not survive the recession.

Mr Tarafdar’s family have more than 40 years’ experience as Southampton restaurateurs after opening the first Indian eatery in the city in the 1960s. He teamed up with three school friends to launch the two-storey venue, which could seat 180.

A planned closure for a refurbishment into a bar and restaurant has turned into a permanent shut-down with a creditors’ meeting planned for July 31, where it is expected that a move to liquidate the business will be approved.