Customers have spoken out in shock and disappointment at the mysterious closure of a plush Southend restaurant.

Bourgee, in Eastern Esplanade, Southend, has been closed since Tuesday.

And a note on the door states it will be “closed until further notice”.

No reason has yet been given by the company for the restaurant’s sudden closure.

An automatic email response states the restaurant is “currently closed but will reopen shortly under new management”.

Meanwhile, residents have slammed the restaurant on social media, with a host of complaints focusing on cancelled reservations, vouchers which are now void and a lack of communication.

Posting to the Echo Facebook page, Larissa Kenny, said: “We booked a table for Sunday for eight people for my 21st birthday and gave my card details in case we didn’t turn up and luckily saw on Facebook they had closed.

“Haven’t been contacted at all and tried calling with no answer. Poor service from a high-end restaurant.

“Good job I saw on Facebook otherwise we would have turned up.”

The restaurant posted to its Facebook page announcing the closure, which received 409 comments within a day.

Lisa Martin wrote to the Bourgee page, saying: “So when were you planning on letting me know considering we are supposed to be celebrating my son’s 18th with you on Friday.”

Rob Clack also wrote: “We heard third hand that it had closed.

“If we hadn’t, twelve people would have turned up expecting a table. Very disappointed that they didn’t contact us.

“Luckily we have booked into one of our favourite Southend Italian restaurants instead.”

Voucher firm Groupon has confirmed that any vouchers for the Southend restaurant can now be refunded, or alternatively used in sister sites.

And a host of complaints condemned the restaurant for failing to inform people with reservations of the closure, with many finding out on social media.

Writing to Borugee, Mel Perrin added: “The fact that Bourgee is not answering the questions about ‘why’ they have closed won’t do their future business much good, will it? There was a party of about 20 of us booked for this Sunday and no phone call.

“Very poor indeed.”

Echo: