A popular restaurant chain that closed down without warning owes the council more than £200,000, the Observer can exclusively reveal.

Jimmy’s World Kitchen in High Street was part of a chain and outlets of that chain have racked up at least £639,000 in outstanding business rates across the country over the last three years.

In Watford, five separate groups were set up to run the restaurant. Each was later declared insolvent, owing a combined total of £244,011.73 in business rates to Watford Borough Council.

READ MORE: Jimmy's World Kitchen mysteriously closes without explanation.

An administrator used to settle each of the company’s affairs has since been declared bankrupt.

Speaking on behalf of the council, David O'Neill: "The council has continually been investigating, with the assistance of an insolvency practitioner, the second administrator who the matter had been passed on to.

"The council is seeking legal advice with regards to recovering outstanding business rates. However, there is a strict legal process that has to be followed."

The council is working with others, most notably Brighton, where another store was closed, to try and recover some of the money.

The closure was discussed at the council's cabinet meeting on Tuesday night.

Leader of the Labour group, Nigel Bell, asked the council’s director of finance about the debt. He said: "While we were told the council is doing all they could to chase up the money residents have said that if they had fallen even a week behind on their council tax they soon get a red letter and it seems very quick that bailiffs are threatened to be brought into action.

"It should not be the case that residents should even get the impression that there is seen to be one rule for individual taxpayers and residents in the town and another for a large company who seem to have longer to pay their debts.”