One of Bermuda’s best loved restaurants will close temporarily at the end of the month.

Ascots restaurant at the Royal Palms Hotel will change ownership and management on April 1 and be taken over by the restaurant group, Take Five Ltd.

Service will be paused while the new owners prepare to open.

Current proprietors Angelo Armano and Edmund Smith left a note online to guests and friends to say that their departure comes with heavy hearts after running the restaurant in Pembroke for 33 years.

Take Five is expected to spend a month making changes to prepare the new business for operation by May.

Mr Armano and Mr Smith said: “It has been incredible that we were so fortunate to share our journey with all of you and with our ‘family staff’ for so many years.

“We wish to thank you all for your unwavering support throughout the years and especially during the hard times of Covid. We will always be immensely grateful. It has been an honour and a privilege to have served you.”

Holger Eiselt, the founder and chief executive of Take Five, opened his first store, H20, inside Washington Mall in 2004.

The company, based on Bakery Lane, Pembroke, has maintained consistent growth over the past two decades.

Today, TFL operates several Buzz quick-service restaurants island wide, Devil's Isle and Village Pantry dine-in restaurants, a TFL catering company, Devil's Isle Coffee Roasting Company and Island Pantry grocery store.

Ascots has won a host of awards and recognitions. It was also treasured for speciality items, including the People’s Menu, which was brought in after the pandemic.

The company wrote on its site: “With all the difficulties that the Covid pandemic brought upon us all and followed with the cost-of-living crisis that most of us are experiencing at the present time, Ascots wanted to make sure that dining out would still be possible for all our guests, not just the few.

“To help with that, we introduced the People’s Menu for dinner with a set price.

“The People’s Menu will give the certainty of cost for dining out but it doesn’t limit the choices available and in most cases offers a larger selection than many à la carte restaurants out there. Not forgetting that also includes the specials of the day and every dish is complete.”

The statement continues: “Ascots’ popularity and success couldn't have been possible without the amazing staff that over the years have worked with us tirelessly, with passion, dedication and care, for the wellbeing of our guests.”

“Ascots is a home for us all and the memories that we have created together with you over the many years will live on in our hearts for ever.

“We leave behind our terrific staff and we will miss them all but we know that they will be appreciated by the new owner and management just as much as we appreciated them.”

They called Take Five Ltd an incredible company and said that it was expected the restaurant would reopen by the end of April.