North Ayrshire Council have been told by Nardini"s directors and architects that the famous seafront cafe is set for a June opening date but a compulsory purchase has not been ruled out if the council are unsatisfied with progress at the site.

Council planners met architects and directors of the resurrected seafront cafe at the Nardini"s cafe site as discussions took place concerning the current state of building work. The consortium of the Fox brothers of Largs, the Marini family and ice cream entrepreneur David Equi took over the running of the cafe but have ran into various obstacles in restoring the cafe which is synonymous with Largs.

Director David Equi has indicated that it has taken more than a year to sort out funding problems brought about by the departure of the consortium"s manager at the Bank of Scotland at the end of 2006.

With the Royal Bank of Scotland now on board, work will be carried out 'morning, noon and night" to meet the summer plans for Nardini"s according to Italgelat.

'It will be there or thereabouts by the beginning of June. If worse comes to the worse, we will open it in stages.' Talking to a national newspaper this week, Mr Equi stated that he and his partners have been carrying out limited restoration of the famous venue since the turn of the year.

He added that delays were linked to the introduction of a new manager at Bank of Scotland, who was less encouraging than his predecessor about the consortium"s outlook. Although the partners had already put up �400,000 of their own money, plus �870,000 from the sale of land next to Nardini"s, they were told to find an extra �600,000 that had not been previous required.

Following "renewed due diligence" to get the Royal Bank on board, Mr Equi was hopeful that the �2m restoration would now proceed. The refurbishment includes a 220 seat cafe, a patisserie counter and separate pizza and pasta restaurant.

He said: The biggest thing for Nardini"s will be the massive ice-cream factory where people will be able to watch their ice-cream being made.

'We are going to have an infinite number of flavours which will be made in front of your eyes. It"ll be like ice-cream theatre. The ice-cream serving area needs to be seen to be believed.' During the recent NAC council meeting last week before the window frames were erected, Mr Hill laid down the following motion: 'It is now clear that Nardini"s cafe will not be reopened before the summer of this year, will the leader agree with me that the progress to restore Nardini"s cafe in Largs has been too little too late? Will he agree to refer the matter to the Planning Committee with a recommendation that the Council commence compulsory purchase proceedings?' Labour Council Leader David O"Neill replied: 'There was a recent meeting at the site by officers of planning who were in talks with developers and architects and assurances have been received.' Work is ready for the new re-furnish of the famous seafront premises, according to the report received by the council leader, and the date being given for the opening is June.

Cllr. O"Neill said: 'A compulsory purchase is difficult to justify as work is getting undertake. A compulsory purchase could take up to three years to complete the acquisition.' Cllr. Hill said given the amount of time taken to pursue a compulsory purchase, it is still important to look into starting the process at the next meeting "in order to focus minds" and called for the item to remain on the agenda.

Cllr. O"Neill said: 'We do share your concerns on this, and we will be watching the situation closely.' Speaking to the "News", Largs Community council chairman Ian Murdoch said: 'I think the developers should be encouraged as they are working away at it. People don"t see what is going on at the moment but don"t be mis-led by the appearance, there is work going on.' Although initially set up as a four-man consortium, one of the Italgelat partners has since been bought out. It now includes Equi, Ayrshire-based restaurant and club operator John Fox, and Sep Marini, the proprietor of takeaway shops across the west of Scotland.