ONE of the region’s best known restaurants has closed suddenly, paving the way for a controversial £50m student accommodation scheme.

The critically acclaimed Oldfields Noted Eating House shut its doors on Claypath, Durham City, on December 31, after 13 years of trading.

Owner Bill Oldfield, who has also run restaurants in Darlington, Barnard Castle and Newcastle, said: “I’m very sad.

“It’s been a long 16 months since we discovered we had been acquired by a company that wishes to demolish us. We bowed to pressure in the end.”

Mr Oldfield, a leading supporter of locally produced food and a columnist for The Northern Echo, said he hoped to open a new restaurant in Durham, but was yet to find the right premises.

A number of staff have lost their jobs, although Mr Oldfield said all had been offered alternative positions, he had tried to help all affected and only one full-time member of staff had been made redundant.

The restaurateur continues to run catering operations at Seaham Town Hall, Shotton Hall in Peterlee and for outdoor events, as well as making and selling restaurant-style ready meals.

Developer Student Castle has planning permission for a £50m scheme to demolish 18-29 Claypath and build 445 student beds.

That stretch includes Kwik Fit, which plans to move to a new retail park in Dragonville; Durham City Snooker and Pool Centre, which boss Eddie Rhodes previously said he wanted to remain open until his lease expires in December 2019; a former cinema; some disused shops; and Oldfields, a historic and decorative but not Listed building which was formerly the headquarters of the Durham Coke and Gas Company.

Student Castle wants the accommodation ready for September 2018 and Mr Oldfield said demolition was scheduled for “very soon”.

Concern is growing at the number of purpose built student accommodation schemes being proposed and approved across Durham. If all outstanding applications and appeals are granted, the number of new beds could top 4,000.

Building is under way for 198 beds at Magdalene Heights, 109 on the former Durham Light Infantryman pub site and 214 at Kepier Court.

The loss of Oldfields to Durham comes just two months after the closure of Michelin star chef Terry Laybourne’s Bistro 21, in Aykley Heads. Mr Oldfield said he had no plans to move into those premises, which have been rumoured as a new home for another acclaimed Durham restaurant, Finbarrs, should its current base at the Kings Lodge Hotel, on Waddington Street, be turned into student accommodation.

*Read Bill Oldfield's last column for The Northern Echo in Saturday's (Jan 9) paper.