The owner of one of Hove's most familiar restaurants has sold up.

Richard Curd is calling it a day more than 30 years after setting up his first sandwich bar with £70 borrowed from his father.

He launched Richard's in Western Road, Hove, in 1976, five years after making a success of his first sandwich bar, The Peckish in Preston Street, Brighton.

Richard and his wife Kim - a former fashion model he chatted up as she bought sandwiches - will take over the restaurant at Tottington Manor, a 16th Century manor house in Edburton, near Henfield.

Richard's, which closed yesterday, will be refurbished and reopened as Busby's by Worthing-based entrepreneur Lisa Turner.

The bar and restaurant, with its lively decor and walls adorned with prints, thrived, long before venues such as Cafe Rouge and Caff Uno became popular.

At its peak in the late Nineties, Richard's employed 60 staff, including 18 chefs.

Customers included the late Adam Faith, actor and singer Jimmy Nail and former Brighton and Hove Albion manager Jimmy Melia, who used a telephone at the back of the restaurant to finalise transfer deals.

Brighton-born Richard, now 58, left Dorothy Stringer School at 16 to be a draughtsman. He then became a van driver but quit to go travelling.

He visited Australia, then India but cut short his travels to return home to watch the 1970 World Cup.

He intended to return to Australia the following year but only made it as far as Afghanistan.

He contracted dysentery and was captured by tribesmen, along with a friend, after their car broke down.

Richard said: "They would not let us go. I don't know what they intended to do to us.

"We had to escape by jumping from a moving vehicle while they were taking us back to where our vehicle had broken down. I just said, 'Go,' and we jumped out."

On his return to Brighton, he took a job at the Metropole Casino before a £70 loan from his father enabled him to open The Peckish.

He sold the venue at a profit and bought a site on the corner of Farm Road and Western Road in 1976 to open a larger sandwich bar, which he named Richard's.

In 1980, he expanded into the shop next door.

Two years later he added carpets and hired a chef to transform it into a restaurant. But success did not come easily.

Richard said: "I had to learn about cooking from the school of hard knocks.

"My first chef suddenly informed me he had another job and left me to get on with cooking the evening meals.

"It was during this time I introduced my own special spaghetti bolognese. People still talk about it today.

"I prefer to remain in the background. I like to keep an eye on what is happening but by keeping a low profile.

"I have tried to create a relaxed atmosphere where people feel at home.

"In fact, I like them to feel they are eating and drinking in my home."

During the mid-Eighties, Richard replaced the takeaway counter with a bar and opened the venue seven days a week.

In 1997, he took over three adjoining shops and a back garden, allowing him to extend and add a cocktail bar and a wine bar.

In the past there have been rumours he was about to sell up, on one occasion prompting him to insert notices in staff wage packets denying the speculation.

Now he has decided the time is right to move on.

He said: "After 28 years I am ready for another challenge.

"I feel a bit sad but I am a person who looks forward and does not look back."