BAILIFFS emptied a restaurant of staff and customers and turfed the owners out of their home upstairs.

Workers told how debt collectors took the watch off their boss Robert Parkin’s wrist and kept his two children’s computers before he left the repossessed Taste restaurant in Weymouth town centre with three bags.

The business was open for an hour yesterday morning when the bailiffs came in and told everybody they had been instructed by their client to take over the premises on the strength of a court judgement.

Chef Isobel Foreman, 22, said she is one of eight people left jobless.

She said: “The bailiffs walked in and said we had three minutes to evacuate or they will ring the police but we had about 25 minutes in the end.

“They gave my boss five minutes to pack his stuff and they took the watch off his wrist.

“One of the worst things is they’ve got two kids and they’ve only left with three bags of clothes.

“The bailiffs have taken the kids’ laptops and all their stuff.”

High Court Enforcement Group Limited were instructed to repossess after a debtor obtained a court judgement.

The posters outside said a High Court writ, obtained at a hearing at Weymouth’s County Court, confirmed the judgement.

Staff said they had taken bookings for Christmas and deposits for their Beaujolais nouveau wine tasting night later this month.

And, with some staff in tears outside, a carpenter who had been working there turned up and was refused entry to pick up his tools. Taste opened last year with a family pirate-themed restaurant on the ground floor and another restaurant upstairs.

It had been up for sale for £150,000 when it closed.

It closed for a few days in February after the police were called but no crime was recorded.

The pirate theme has since been removed and workers felt the business was doing well.

Dennis Corbett and two fellow members of the Rotary Clubs of Weymouth were having a coffee, making plans for next year’s carnival, when the bailiffs arrived.

Mr Corbett said: “We were half way through our coffees when a pleasant young man came in and said about the court order and that he was closing the place down.

“He said: ‘Finish your coffees first’ and was nice and polite.

“It’s such a shame as the people who ran it are very nice people and the chefs are very good.”

Waitress Jessica Smith, 21, was in tears and said: “We were fully booked over December.

“It’s a shock and it’s not his fault.”

Head chef Lee Atkins, 23, said he enjoyed working at Taste and added: “It’s going to be a hard time to look for a job.”