A FINE dining restaurant has rebranded and reopened as an Italian – as its sister restaurant goes up for sale.

Leigh fine dining restaurant the Palm Tree was put on sale on Wednesday after two years serving diners in Leigh Road, at the same time as its sister fine dining restaurant, the Lemon Tree, in Southchurch Road, Southend, reopened as Il Palazzo, an Italian.

When the rebranding was first announced, owner Servet Kilic said fine dining restaurants were not surviving in Southend and there had been “a change in the economy” with bookings only coming in for special occasions.

However, Mr Kilic, who also runs the Palm Tree, said the restaurant’s premises were up for sale because they were too small for his plans.

He said: “The competition is there on Leigh Road, but each restaurant is different and has its own market, so it works quite well. We wanted to move to larger premises and will do another catering business with a larger shop.”