A POPULAR bar has closed suddenly.

Signs appeared on the door of Rio Bar and Restaurant in Broadway, Leigh, on Monday morning.

The front door has also been boarded up by the freeholder, the Regis Group, which has an office in Southend.

The note on the door reads: “Notice of forfeiture.

“Under the terms of the lease, this premises has been peaceably re-entered by the landlord/lessor and the lease determined by the way of forfeiture.

“No unauthorised access.”

A Leigh resident witnessed the seizing of the bar.

He said: “There were two bailiffs in there along with the freeholder the Regis Group, but no one was there from Rio.

“It was never really that busy in there during the week so I think they were struggling for money and just stopped paying their bills.

“Hopefully it is replaced by something better as the building is quite large .

“You could quite easily fit a couple of hundred people in there.”

The Regis Group declined to comment further on why the action had been taken.

No one at the bar was available to comment.

A DJ who played regularly at the venue said there was “nothing to report”.