The future of one of Bermuda's top tourism attractions -- threatened by the closure of the Plantation restaurant -- will be decided by March.

New backers are needed to salvage Leamington Caves.

And The Royal Gazette has learned the Bermuda Zoological Society, which runs the Aquarium, could be asked to step in to save them.

The caves, which opened in 1918, will shut for the winter season when the Plantation closes for good on Saturday.

Carol West, the restaurant's owner, has pledged to decide what will happen to the caves before the start of the summer tourist season.

She told The Royal Gazette she had already had preliminary discussions with Aquarium curator Richard Winchell.

But she said: "Right now, we really don't know what's going to happen to the caves. It's all very preliminary and there is nothing in the wind at this point.

"The caves are normally closed until March anyway so that gives us a bit of time to plan their future.

"We will obviously do something but we don't know exactly what that will be yet.

"Our primary aim at this moment is simply to get over the shock of having to close the restaurant.'' Mrs. West, a friend of Mr. Winchell's, said getting the Aquarium involved was "a possibility, but no more than that''.

She added: "First of all, the restaurant directors will have to sit down and decide what is the best thing to do.

"That will happen some time before March. It might be that the solution would involve the Bermuda Zoological Society but it is very early days.'' A spokesman for the Bermuda Zoological Society said Mr. Winchell had spoken to Carol West about the possibility of taking over Leamington Caves.

But Jack Ward said the discussion was "quite a while ago''.

He added: "We are somewhat reluctant to stretch ourselves too far and at the moment, this is simply talk.'' The 70-seat Plantation restaurant will leave 24 people redundant when it closes five days before Christmas.

Fourteen people are employed there full-time and the rest are part-time staff.

But Leamington Caves has also struggled to attract visitors in recent years.

More than 31,000 people registered for official tours of the caves in 1984. By last year that number had dwindled to less than 10,000.

Mrs. West told The Royal Gazette last week that the restaurant side of the business had "never really made any money''.

She added: "We bought it in June of 1979 and opened the restaurant at the beginning of the year in 1980.

"We kept our heads above water. Some years were good, some were bad. But lately, its operated at a loss.'' Tourism Minister David Dodwell said: "My hope is that somebody will take up Leamington Caves as a wonderful resource which supplements the Crystal Caves as a tourist attraction.

"I would also say that I hope someone looks at the restaurant, which I was very disappointed to see close down. I think it provided a very unique Bermudian environment that will be sadly missed.''