The majority stakeholder of well-known Washington Mall restaurant Take Five said he will shut down the restaurant if he does not find a buyer by the end of the month.

Brian Toms contacted from Wales after attempts by himself and another business partner to sell the restaurant have failed.

They now say they will sell for "a rock bottom price".

However Mr. Toms said if their attempts to sell fail, the restaurant would "close for good and liquidate everything unless a buyer is found before the lease expires on September 30".

Take Five ? which is known for its reasonably priced meals ? has been open for more than 15 years and has through the years attracted a loyal, mostly local clientele.

But this week Mr. Toms described the situation as a chance "to redevelop a once thriving popular local restaurant". He added that it would take time and money to "turn it around".

Speaking last year when he and business partner Mark Stephenson ? who went into business together eight years ago when they bought the restaurant as a going concern ? first launched a full-scale effort to find a buyer, Mr. Toms said he had decided to sell out after 28 years on the Island.

He has since moved back to his native Wales.

Mr. Toms, who first worked as a teacher when he arrived in Bermuda and then worked at Arthur Andersen and then Fidelity Investment, met his partner Mr. Stephenson through Teachers Rugby Club where both men played the sport.

Mr. Toms said that the restaurant had a 99 percent local clientele and had never had to advertise the business, relying on word of mouth to get business.

The pair said the restaurant was already called Take Five when they bought it, although neither knows how or why the restaurant got its name. It was previously called the Earl of Sandwiches.