A DUNFERMLINE restaurant, bar and hotel has announced its closure after soaring electricity costs saw their bill go from £3,000 to a massive £17,000.

1703 in Bruce Street has shut its doors for the final time.

Announcing the news on its website, a statement read: "After five incredible years we are sad to announce the closure of 1703 Dunfermline. Although extremely difficult, we have had some amazing times and thank each and every one of you for your support.

"We are aware some of you still have some vouchers to use. These can be redeemed at the following sites: The Granary at Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries, Cafebar 1807, Linlithgow, Cafebar 1912, Bathgate."

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Owner and manager David Stein said several factors had led to the closure.

"The long and short of it is the lease came to an end," he told the Press. "It was a five-year lease and we opted not to take it up again.

"There were a lot of factors involved in that and the biggest factor was the electricity had gone from £3,000 to £17,000 a month.

"It has gone up to £14,000 a month and no matter how well you are doing, you can not run a business with that. We would have needed an extra 75 per cent in turnover.

"At the same time, we also had a wage increase for staff. Because we are a national Living Wage employer, when that comes through, we have to jump up to that.

"At the same time, the whole cost base from buying tomatoes, everything, was going through the roof and we couldn't sustain it."

Other issues such as the difficulty in finding hospitality staff and the decline in Dunfermline's city centre also took its toll.

"Losing the BID in Dunfermline was not good," he added. "That was an absolute tragedy for the city centre and it has gone downhill in the last three years since the BID was lost."

Despite the challenges, David said the last five years had been good ones.

"We are very proud of what we had in Dunfermline but it wasn't financially viable to keep," he added. "We hope the landlord has got someone else who can come in as it is a wonderful building.

"We had wonderful customers and we are pleased to have been able to place all but one member of staff elsewhere."