Maldon Nub News aims to be supportive to EVERY element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and wants life to get back to normal.

We will be profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN MALDON in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for your full return to business as usual.

Today we talk to Sami Barli, owner of Sark restaurant in the High Street, Maldon. During an in-depth Q and A session Sami reveals why he set up business in Maldon as well as what he loves about the town's community and his gratitude for its support during the current crisis.

FROM the very first moment of the interview, it is clear that Sami Barli is troubled by the incredibly brave decision he has made in temporarily closing Sark to dine-in customers.

"I didn't feel like we had any choice," he says, "and it will be very difficult now, but we spoke to our staff who all have families, too, and asked ourselves how we would feel if our customers started getting sick.

"It was the decision we made. Sometimes things come before money, like health. And I think now we should all stick together and beat this terrible thing. Maybe if we do it will just be a matter of a few weeks and life can become more normal again."

Sami opened his first business in Maldon in Washington Road. He grew to love the community he met in his café and decided to open a restaurant business here. Many local people will be familiar with Sami's previous premises at the top of the High Street.

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The success of the Turkish restaurant there led Sami to invest heavily in the large and plush restaurant in the High Street beloved by locals and others from the surrounding areas. It would be difficult not to be impressed by the palm trees, the lavish Turkish-style décor and velvet fittings and the mezzanine floor – not to mention the large glass wall area that gives diners a tempting glimpse into the kitchen and grill area to see the Sark chefs busy at their work.

The opening in December last year was a huge success and Sami tells how it was the takings from an amazing first Christmas there that saw the business through lockdown.

But that seems a million miles away now.

"We don't have that this time," he says, "and there are many staff to pay and…I am being honest with you, I don't know what will happen next."

This interview is tough now as the effects of this pandemic on one of Maldon's leading High Street businesses – and most of all on the man who owns it – is really heartbreaking to see.

Sami looks up on the Zoom meeting screen and smiles just a little. Now he echoes something many of us are probably feeling if we, too, are honest. Through all the arguments on social media and elsewhere about how we should handle this thing and a thousand different opinions, there is perhaps something most would agree on – and yes, a sense of loss of the way of life we had.

"We didn't expect this and we didn't think it would be as bad as this," Sami says, "or that it would last so long."

In a bid to keep things going, Sark has now launched an app, which is accessible by visiting the restaurant's Facebook page.