A THAI restaurant in Basingstoke town centre has closed over failure to pay the rent.

Landlord Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council repossessed the Baan Thai Restaurant in Church Street on October 12, seizing all goods and equipment.

Helen Harbour, head of property, said: "The company that acquired the lease in February are now in breach of the lease. We have had to repossess the restaurant and are now taking necessary steps."

The address has had a chequered past since another Thai restaurant, called Lemongrass, occupied the building.

Kovid and Suwanna Udyanin, proprietors of Lemongrass, were found guilty in August of seven counts each of breaching food hygiene regulations under the European Communities Act.

The couple, from Hook, received a two-year community order with an unpaid work requirement of 280 hours each, for the seven counts against each of them.

The restaurant closed under emergency powers when an environmental health officer found hundreds of German cockroaches in the kitchen and the dining area during a routine inspection on January 7, this year.

The restaurant was declared fit to re-open on February 17, but was sold to new owners later that month.