The opening date wasset, the building work completed and the name chosen, but the small café in Samara, one of Russia's more prosperous cities on the banks of the Volga, never opened.

It has been standing empty for the past three years, depriving its owners of an income, Samara's citizens of a drink and Russia of much-needed investment. Lyudmila Ananyeva and her business partner - both former Soviet-era engineers - put Rbs1.5m (£28,000) of their savings into the café.