A FAMILY is looking for investors to provide up to £1million to transform Colchester’s former courthouse and cells.

Bob Bettis plans to turn the former Colchester magistrates courtrooms into restaurants and the cells below into a themed bistro.

He and his family have already opened fine dining restaurant Memoirs in the Old Library and the Counsel coffee bar in the courthouse entrance since signing a long-term lease with Colchester Council for a chunk of Colchester Town Hall.

But a combination of health problems and the £600,000 cost of getting Memoirs and the coffee bar open means they are now looking for a financial backer.

Mr Bettis said: “We have put £600,000 in already and to finish everything it will cost us between another £800,000 and £1million. It is a lot of money and if we had a financial backer then we could finish it a lot more quickly than doing it on our own."

See Monday's Gazette for more