The owner of Britain’s first kosher Chinese restaurant will hang up his wok for the last time next week.

Marcus Witztum has sold his Marcus’s restaurant and takeaway in Temple Fortune in North-West London to LewcoPak, the Bedfordshire-based kosher poultry abattoir.

“I opened the first kosher Chinese restaurant when this was called Rothschild’s, and the first kosher Chinese takeaway. I never imagined it would last this long, but I have enjoyed it very much,” said Mr Witztum, 59, who has been in the restaurant and hotel business throughout his working life.

LewcoPak managing director Stephen Grossman confirmed that the company had bought the restaurant.

“We want to turn it into a food emporium. But we are still working out the detail,” said Mr Grossman.

“The kosher-food landscape is constantly changing. Since we started negotiations, five new kosher restaurants have opened in North West London. We want to make sure that we go into the right market so we are going to take our time to make sure that what we do will be successful.”