A business that had attracted bands from all over the country and had been one of an increasing number of restaurants in downtown Westbrook in recent years, Chicky’s Fine Diner, closed its doors Friday.

A note to customers on the door early this week said the restaurant closed May 5 “for good.” It appeared next to a sign from the Maine Revenue Services that said the sales tax registration had been revoked and the business shut down.

Harold Dearborn, director of the compliance division at Maine Revenue Services, said he could not release details of the tax compliance of a business, but said the sales tax registration – a requirement to collect sales tax on business transactions – would likely be revoked due to a failure to file returns or pay the sales tax collected from customer purchases.

The diner’s owners, Blake Smithson and Chicky Stoltz did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Smithson did reply with a copy of the e-mail he sent out Tuesday to a number of friends of the iconic diner, which has been host to innumerable bands since it opened in 2004.

“After much weeping and gnashing of teeth the past several days we decided that (closing the diner) was the only course of action that made any sense,” Smithson wrote in the e-mail, noting they made a “classic restaurant mistake” of starting the business without sufficient capital.

Smithson wrote later in the e-mail that the “day-to-day brutality of operating a business in the red” did not take the pleasure out of running the business. Smithson thanked everyone who stuck with the diner through the years.

Chris Busby, editor and publisher of TheBollard.com, and long-time observer of the southern Maine music scene, said the closure is a “huge blow” for bands seeking venues to play. Busby said some of the top artists in Americana, roots, and blues have played at Chicky’s, including Stacey Earl, Duke Robilard and Sean Mencher, the latter of which Busby said is a “huge deal in the rockabilly world.”

Busby said Stoltz and Smithson have been “very generous” in providing live entertainment for diners, and allowing the diners to sit with a few drinks after their meal.

“Most restaurants need to keep turning over those tables,” Busby said.

Phillip Hoose, a member of Portland band Chipped Enamel, which was to perform at Chicky’s next week, said the diner and its music scene meant a “great deal” to southern Maine.

“We’re all very sad,” Hoose said of the band. “Not so much for the loss of the gig, but because Chicky’s is such a great place.”

Matt “Chicky” Stoltz (left) and Blake Smithson (right) operated Chickys Fine Diner on Bridge Street since 2004. Recently the restaurant