FORSTER Community College is being offered a "range of assistance" by Bradford Council in the wake of the institution announcing the closure of its 100-seat restaurant and bar in City Park.

Bosses at the Forster's Bistro and Deli, which was supported by the authority's £35 million City Centre Growth Zone initiative, posted a message on its website on Tuesday that it was with "great sadness" that the venue had "closed its doors as a commercial enterprise."

When the restaurant opened in December 2012, the college was said to have signed a 15-year lease on the site, which provided full-time jobs alongside work experience and training opportunities for catering students at the college’s chefs’ academy.

Customers saddened at the loss of the restaurant have claimed its demise is down to funding for trainees at the college being withdrawn for 2016, but Sheila Philpott, the college's chief executive officer, remained unavailable to comment on the reasons behind the venue's closure yesterday.

One upset customer, who said she was considering starting a Facebook campaign to re-open the restaurant, said the college had approached the Council to request financial support to save the bistro and keep its courses and training programmes running, but had been turned down.

In response, a Council spokesman said yesterday: "As part of the City Centre Growth Zone initiative, Forster's Bistro received a business rate rebate.

"However, we were informed that the bistro was closing, which is disappointing for the college students who were getting real hands-on experience there.

"We are currently working with the Board of Trustees to offer a range of assistance.

"This includes working with the landlord to try and help secure a new tenant for the building, as well as measures to support the future prospects of their students."

Val Summerscales, secretary of the Bradford Chamber of Trade, said it was "always very disappointing" to see any city centre business have to close.

"If you consider the size of the building, they would have needed to have an awful lot of covers each day, it is a big place to fill," she said.

"It will have been an economic decision, I'm sure.

"Whoever takes the site on would need to work very hard to make it work, but anything and everything is possible for its future use.

"It is a very large space to fill on a day-to-day basis, but it is in a prominent location, and other businesses do attract high levels of footfall to the area.

"We would welcome any new initiative to take the site forward that would hopefully be there for the long-term."