INQUIRIES are already coming in from food-loving Londoners for details of the sale of the restaurant that put the town on the international gastronomic map.

Even before Ludlow estate agent Nock Deighton put the finishing touches to details of Shaun Hill's Michelin-star Merchant House in Lower Corve Street, the phones were already ringing.

"We are expecting a great deal of interest both at home and from the west and east coasts of America," said Nock Deighton partner Michael Evans.

"The planned sale is also expected to attract wide interest on the internet."

Offers for the Jacobean grade II-listed black and white restaurant, which also includes six bedrooms and a garden with river frontage, will be invited at about £750,000.

That price values the goodwill of the business at about £275,000 and includes the right to continue to use the name.

When Shaun and his wife Anja bought the property in 1994, they had to fight strong opposition from reluctant Ludlovians to win planning permission to set up a restaurant.

Now it has a host of awards, including a Michelin star and three AA rosettes, and there are no tables free until December.

The Hills plan to help the buyer with "a smooth and seamless transfer in order to maintain both the success of the current business and further the goodwill".

There is, of course, no guarantee that the Michelin star will remain, for it will be up to the new owner to earn it the hard way.