in the Sun in the Bermudiana Arcade on Friday.

And with it may go a longstanding tradition. The Arcade has been the site of a restaurant for many years, under the name The Blue Moon. There is some doubt as to whether or not the restaurant tradition will continue there.

A sale of restaurant fittings and fixtures is planned for February 3 and 4, starting at 9 a.m. The saleable items include deli cases, a stove, tables, chairs and various other pieces.

Owners Wendy and John Kyle are distributing a notice to patrons that the closure is "due in part to Wendy's illness which has prevented her for the past year, taking an active part in the running of the restaurant''.

The notice continued: "We wish to thank all of you for your business and we hope we succeeded in our intent to provide you with a natural foods alternative over the past two years.'' Mr. Kyle described business over the two years as "patchy'', but he said: "In the restaurant business, you need one of the equity owners on site as much as you can. And my wife has not been able to be involved in the business to the extent we expected.

"The restaurant business is an incredibly tough business. You need one of the owners to be there. We were specialising in healthy food. Not necessarily `health food'. That was our identity, in as much as with all of the food, we tried to offer a healthy alternative.'' He said: "We had a lot of dedicated clientele. There was some people who went there everyday. Some were there at least once a week. But like I said, the restaurant business is hard.'' Mr. Kyle is the busy president of computer firm Gateway Systems Ltd. and chairman of the Pembroke West branch of the ruling United Bermuda Party. The restaurant was Mrs. Kyle's project.

The abrupt closure means the loss of five jobs, although Mr. Kyle noted that the three Bermudian staff have alternative employment.

Of the two foreign staff members, one plans to leave the country and the other is seeking permission to search for alternative employment in the Island.

Seasons in the Sun replaced the Blue Moon restaurant, which operated for decades in the Bermudiana Arcade before the Kyles purchased it two years ago.

At that time, they changed the name and the format and oriented it toward those seeking healthy food.

The owner of the 1,700 square feet of space in the Arcade, Joe DeMello, said that the decision came so quickly that it could take some time to determine how he proceeds from here. But there are some options already under consideration.

Mr. DeMello said: "This thing just came about over the weekend, really. It has just happened. I can't say what is exactly going to happen.

"The space might be changed into split-use, with one part maybe remaining a restaurant and the other part being used for retail.''