A MUCH loved restaurateur from Worcester has died after a long illness.

Constantinos Djiallis, former proprietor of the Greek restaurant L'aroma has died aged 85.

The restaurateur, commonly known as Dennis, died at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on August 15 due to kidney and heart failure.

Peter Djiallis paid tribute to his dad, who owned the restaurant on Broad Street for 30 years.

He said: "They tell us he went peacefully, but it was horrible we couldn't be by his side because of the pandemic. It was a slow process, but he'd been poorly since February. He was at a good old age as we say in Greek.

"My dad was a character. There's no doubt about it, everyone will remember him. He was so strong minded, even in the end he would always say 'I'm excellent' every time the paramedics asked him how it was.

"He's the only person I know that used to go to the dentist and not use anaesthetic!"

The 56 year old said his dad was a "people person" and would stand at the bottom of Broad Street to hail people in for coffees.

He said: "He loved the people, he'd be out on the street saying 'hello my friend, have a coffee'.

"I was just going through his old stuff, and I found an old coffee machine from the 1950's when the restaurant was still a coffee bar."

Dennis bought Laroma back in 1964, later adding in the apostrophe when he turned it into a restaurant.

"My dad came to Southampton on a boat in 1961. He met my mum there and they both moved to Worcester when dad found out about the business opportunity."

The restaurant "grew with the generations", starting off as a wine bar, before the father of two purchased the store next door and extended it to seat over 100 customers.

The family held a blessing on Monday to mark the ninth day of the patriarch's passing. The blessing was held to "protect the soul of the departed."

Peter said: "For us, the soul stays on earth for nine days after the death. We will do another blessing at three, six, nine and 12 months after his death to honour him. Then we'll hold a yearly memorial - his legacy will live on.

Dennis, who was in the police force back in Cyprus, stayed strong till the end.

His son said: "He just denied anything to do with it. He said he had back problems - 'it's just my sciatica' -I guess that was his way of handling his mindset in the situation he had.

"At the end he said 'this is my life, if this is the end I should go.'"

The funeral will be held on September 6 at St John's Church. The procession will begin at noon, but will be making a detour at 11.30am when tributes will be paid for Dennis outside the old restaurant in Broad Street.