A restaurant which closed earlier this summer and failed to sell at auction has now been transformed into a beauty salon.

Fine dining eatery, Carlyle's, closed its doors in May – less than six months after opening in Sheerness High Street on Sheppey.

Originally named Durtnall's in honour of owner John Durtnall back in October last year, former Independent councillor Lee McCall took up the reins himself when his former business partner called it a day at Christmas.

Yet, despite renaming the restaurant and offering customers a cheaper menu, Mr McCall was unable to keep the restaurant afloat beyond May.

The former watering hole then went up for auction with Clive Emson at the end of June, but failed to sell for its £110,000 asking price.

Although the property remained empty during the following months, it has now been taken over by Ammy's Hair and Beauty salon.

Owner Love Kaur, 35, has set up shop at the site opposite the town's clock tower.

Miss Kaur, who previously ran the business further along Sheerness High Street, says Ammy's named after her son's nickname.

She explained: "We do eyebrow shaping, threading, nail work and eyelashes treatment - which is probably the most popular thing clients buy.

"We have also been doing men's eyebrows too since we moved.

"The business is going well - our regular clients are still coming to us, but because we are now in the middle of the high street more we are getting new customers coming now.

"We used to work from a different place, but thought it was too small and so wanted bigger space.

"I've been in Sheerness nearly seven years so I want the salon to be here long-term too."

The shop is open from Monday to Saturdays, between the hours of 10am and 6pm.

It is also open for trading on Sundays via appointment only.

Speaking earlier this summer, Mr McCall said closing Carlyle's was "a massive shame".

However he admits it was an "uphill struggle" for some time to keep it up and running.

The 42-year-old said: “We lost a chef which obviously didn't help, so trying to find new staff members proved to be very difficult.

"At the weekends we were fully booked, but during the week it was a different story with not enough custom.

"Getting the staff to cope with a busy restaurant has also not been easy.

"Business did pick up after Christmas with the change of menu and lower prices, but it never stayed or picked up further after that, which was hard given I was pretty much on my own."