A FARM shop and cafe has closed – with no explanation from owners over the decision.

Roaming Roosters in Higham, a farm shop which sold free-range meat and had a bistro and coffee shop, closed last month.

A notice, which was posted on the company’s Twitter page, read: “Closed until further notice”.

The gates to the farm shop and coffee room have been closed since the beginning of July but no sign has been put up on the premises to explain why the business has closed.

Previous investors, including the Seafood Pub Company, confirmed the business has ceased trading but said they had received no details about why.

A spokesman for Seafood Pub Company said: “Seafood Pub Company came out of the site at Roaming Roosters at the start of this year, after which, Roaming Roosters took over the whole of the site.

"We have subsequently learnt that the business has ceased trading with no details around this.”

Family butchers Simon and Nick Mellin, from Nelson, first opened the business in 2012.

It had initially operated with success and caught the eye of Nelson businessman Matthew Riley, chief executive of Daisy Group Plc.

Mr Riley, who has appeared as a judge on the BBC One business reality show The Apprentice with Lord Sugar, became a shareholder of Roaming Roosters back in March 2016.

But the entrepreneur resigned from the board of directors in October last year, just four months after £1million expansion plans were submitted to Pendle Council.

The plans set out an extension to the existing barn on the site as well as the creation of a children’s indoor play area and 20 new jobs.

A spokesman for Matthew Riley said: “He is the landlord not the operator. The business has closed the site and we will have to consider what to do next.”