A restaurateur has told how he was forced to close down his business after an adjoining hotel was turned over to housing asylum seekers who scared off his customers.

Jamie Darby, who has owned Ceno bar and restaurant in Southampton for 20 years, says he is reluctantly shutting his doors as a direct result of problems with Highfield House Hotel, which the Home Office uses to house up to 100 migrants.

Ceno had been a popular dining spot since the early 2000s but customer numbers fell sharply after the hotel directly above his ground floor restaurant stopped accepting paid guests five years ago, Mr Darby says.

He says that while these guests would often frequent his restaurant, other loyal customers have been put off by large groups of young men loitering outside.

Mr Darby told the Daily Mail: 'I'm devastated, 20 years of my life have just been thrown away. I've come out of the end of it absolutely skint.

'Everything I had personally was sunk into the restaurant, I borrowed money from family and friends to keep going. We've been forced out.

'The business was successful until five years ago when the hotel started to house illegals.

'It's impossible to run a business with 100 young men loitering around.

Jamie Darby who owns Ceno Bar and Restaurant in Southampton said illegal migrants have damaged the business and made it almost 'impossible to operate'

Jamie Darby (pictured) says he is reluctantly shutting his restaurant down as a direct result of problems with Highfield House Hotel

Pictured: Highfield House Hotel in Southampton that accommodates up to 100 asylum seekers 

'I can't sell it, I can't do anything with it. The decline in business is because of who lives above us.'

In the last two years, Mr Darby says his turnover has been halved as customers deserted the once-popular restaurant.

The closure has cost four full-time staff members their jobs as well as numerous casual and part time staff.

He said, although there is no evidence to support the claims: 'Groups of girls don't want to come here because they have groups of men leering and whistling at them out of the windows.

'My 22-year-old daughter was propositioned - it's just disgusting

'Southampton is a university city and we employ a lot of young students but often they would leave because they were too frightened.'

Mr Darby says he hasn't received any meaningful help from his local MP or the police despite pleading with a senior officer to protect him and his staff.

He also claims he has been locked out of the shared car park for six months and that hotel occupants caused water to pour into the restaurant by allowing sinks upstairs to overflow while washing their feet.