An animal lover has closed his viral backyard badger restaurant, saying it was costing a “fortune” to run but has now befriended a fox who comes into his home.

Marcel Payne once hosted garden dinner parties every night for 11 striped guests – as well as two foxes and neighbourhood cats - at his home in Bearsted, Maidstone which became a hit online.

Each night the 53-year-old would prepare a menu with his son Lewis, and over time they became more creative.

During one mealtime, the badgers can be seen eating out of McDonald’s Happy Meals containers – although no actual McDonald’s were consumed.

It was at this time that Marcel’s online badger community “exploded” to more than 10,000 members.

He said: “It felt like I was doing some good, I needed to entertain myself during Covid but to see the interest and goodwill from members of the public was amazing.”

It got the point where people would drop off food for the animals with lots of people wanting to get involved.

However, once Marcel was able to return to his job as a driving instructor he was no longer able to dedicate so much time into feeding his noisy neighbours, who live in the woodland behind his home.

“Times have changed since Covid because I haven’t got the time to stay up all night and watch what they’re doing, but I put food out and it’s gone the next morning so I know they are still there.”

Nowadays, Marcel, who is known by his friends as The Badgerman, feeds the badgers from outside the back gate, because the animals were “destroying” the garden with their digging.

However, in their honour, he has now created a garden pub named The Fox and Badger.

When asked why he started the badger bistro to begin with, he said: “I think it’s a natural love of the animals anyway; it’s something I’ve always done on my own without the fuss and the interest of everyone else and that’s just carried on.

“It’s something I’ll always do even when all of this has died down – just for my pleasure.”

While the badgers are now fed from behind the garden fence, this hasn’t stopped one friendly fox, named Hope, from visiting his home and garden every night.

The pair share a strong bond and she wandered into his home one afternoon a few years ago.

Marcel said: “She came in as a cub and would come straight into the house and spend most of her time in the garden with me.

“If I was doing work in the garden, she would just follow me around. It’s very unusual and not to everyone’s liking for a fox to come inside and many people will criticise, but I’ve never tempted her in the house.”

When Hope had her first set of cubs two years ago, she brought them into Marcel’s home.

He said: “She’s looking very healthy and well and she’s got her own fan club at the moment.”

The animal-lover has shared photos of Hope standing on the sofa, shielding from the rain while looking out the window, and sharing a pork pie.

The confident fox is frequently pictured eating chicken legs from Marcel’s hand and is not scared to put her front legs on his knees.

Although his backyard restaurant is closed there are no plans to stop feeding the foxes, with many of the neighbours feeding them if he goes on holiday.

Meanwhile, Marcel plans to open his backyard Fox and Badger pub to friends and family on the weekend.

Most people only see badgers dead on the side of the road but the online community Marcel created with his animal bistro prompted an outpouring of support as followers could see and learn more about these nocturnal mammals.

And this community support carries on today as Marcel continues to share daily updates on Hope the friendly fox.

For more, search for Badgers of Bearsted and Beyond on Facebook.