Topless coffee shop forced to close

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Serving topless...a waiter serving customers inside the coffee shop

Acontroversial topless coffee shop in the US has been forced to close after it put up a sign that read "Boobies wanted".

Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine, where waiters and waitresses serve customers semi-nude, has shut down after surviving two years of protests against the business including an arson attack.

Town officials ruled that the cafe's signs were illegal because they exceeded the permitted size limit, the Maine Morning Sentinel reports.

They insisted the signs' content, including advertising for a nude carwash, and the shop's nudity policy have nothing to do with the ruling but owner Donald Crabtree said he was the victim of sabotage.

"I wanted to have some fun, I wanted to see people smile," he said.

"I've fought that fight for more than two years now and no matter how hard I try to make this work, somebody sabotages me."

Crabtree claims he has been "singled out" by the rural community.

After the store opened in 2009, it was burnt to the ground by Raymond Bellavance Jr, who was in a relationship with one of the waitresses.

Local Reverend Steve Rogers is glad the "upsetting" business has closed.

"I hate to see a business disappear but that's really not the type of business Vassalboro needs," he said.

"I think the majority of the town is going to be very pleased it's shutting down and hopefully whoever buys it will run a more family-friendly business."

It may be hard for Crabtree to relocate his business &mdash, after the cafe opened, many small communities brought in rules to regulate where sexually-oriented businesses could operate.