A CAFE in a historic Winchester building will close its doors for the last time this month.

The YMCA at St John’s House on The Broadway is shutting after a review of operations by the charity.

The charity will cease hospitality operations, which will result in the closure of its café and the community and commercial hire of the Assembly, De Winton and Bevero rooms.

Chief Executive of YMCA Fairthorne Group, Chris Hand said: “The YMCA is a community charity and venue hire and hospitality are not our core competencies. We are very sad to be leaving St John’s House, but we need to take these crucial steps to refocus, and ensure we can continue to deliver and grow our valuable work to young people and families.

“We are very grateful for all the support everyone has given us and we look forward to continuing our work with communities across Hampshire.”

It is no secret that the charity had found it difficult following the recession to keep the venue alive, in 2012 the Chronicle reported how the cafe closed and reopened as a youth venue.

Then YMCA bosses blamed the tough economic climate for reducing the number of people spending money in the venue.

Before the YMCA moved in to the building in 2011, there had been concerns by city councillors about the viability of the charity opening a youth cafe.

St John's Winchester Charity own the building, and director Clive Cook said:"It is a very valuable space for the charity, it is a historic building and it really represents the historic heart of the charity.

"Whilst we regret the fact that the YMCA is leaving and the terms which it is leaving are still being discussed it gives an opportunity to consider a long term use for the building.

"That is not something we want to rush, there could be a commercial purpose, a social purpose or a mix, it is something we are actively looking at.

"It is a fantastic building and location, but it is not an easy building to deal with on a commercial basis because of its age.

"Over the next few months we will consider a long term plan for the building, and there may be short term uses that we can look at while we consider the long term plan."

The YMCA say the closure will allow the charity to place greater focus, energy and resource on its core areas of activity.

This will include developing its early years and community work across Hampshire so that children, young people and their families are given support within their communities.

A spokeswoman for the charity confirmed they will still be working with Winchester groups and aim to have a presence in the city, they will be working in partnership with the Carroll Centre in Stanmore in Easter, liaise with schools in the area and work with Winchester Rotary.