Dartmouth's Apprentice training restaurant has been forced to close with the loss of six full-time jobs.

But the charitable operation set up almost five years ago to help the long-term unemployed could still be saved if the right charity stepped up to take it on.

The restaurant staff were told last Thursday morning that they were being made redundant just four days before the restaurant was due to reopen after the Christmas and New Year break, said general manager Nina Stanesby.

Ms Stanesby, along with head chef Darren Winn second chef Mark Westerndorp, house manager Mandy Abraham and front of house supervisors Abigail York and Craig Wiltshire – who have been helping to train out-of-work people – are now out of work themselves.

Ms Stanesby stressed the business had not gone into 'administration' or 'liquidation' and had been profitable right up until the end.

She also revealed there had been 'philanthropic' individuals with charity support looking at pumping tens of thousands of pounds into saving the restaurant – until the time simply ran out.

This week Dartmouth county and district councillor Jonathan Hawkins said the closure of the unique restaurant was a 'great blow and a great shame' .

He added: 'It has been a fantastic facility for Dartmouth. Let's hope that someone can some along and re-open it as soon as possible.'

The restaurant has been on the edge of closure since the London-based Training for Life charity behind the operation went into administration almost three months ago.

Other training restaurants run through the charity at Hoxton and Barking were closed almost immediately but the Dartmouth restaurant – which was launched at the old St Barnabas Church in Newcomen Road in 2008 – was allowed to continue operating.

Ms Stanesby said there had been charities on the sidelines hoping to step in to take over the restaurant but the complicated legal situation had made this very difficult.

In the end, the former Training for Life boss Iain McArthur said that time had run out and pulled the plug.

But she said there is still the possibility that one of the charities that had been waiting in the wings could step in.

'We need to link up with a charitable organisation whose ethos is the same as ours – a social entrepreneur – and go from there,' she said.

She said Dartmouth Apprentice on its own had been a 'massive success story' as she added: 'Last year we had our most profitable year. We have become a venue for wedding receptions and large parties.'

Over the last four and a half years, the restaurant has helped more than 150 apprentices and clocked up an 80 percent success rate in getting them back into full-time employment or education.

One of the restaurant apprentices went on to work for celebrity chef Mitch Tonks in his Seahorse restaurant in Dartmouth.

During the season, the restaurant was opened seven days a week which reduced to five days a week in the off-season.

Ms Stanesby explained that because of covenants and other legal issues linked to the way it was originally funded, the restaurant – with its state of the art equipment – could not be sold off as a commercial restaurant.

Instead it would have to find a charitable organisation willing to continue its training ethos.

She said the staff had heard the news with 'massive sadness' and added: 'It really is a crying shame.'