A POPULAR ice cream parlour in Romsey is to shut its doors before the end of the year after.

Sundae's Child, in Market Place, has announced that it is to close having struggled through 2018, saying that the town is 'saturated with fantastic eateries'.

They also said that 2019 would bring about more challenges with the scheme to redevelop Market Place set to start in January and run until the early summer.

The award-winning ice cream parlour say that they will continue to serve as staff find other jobs, but that they wanted to end on a high note.

Writing a statement on social media, staff said: "Like many high street businesses, big and small, we have had to reassess our business model and make hard decisions to focus our efforts.

"However, our cafe parlour will close. During the winter months we have not seen enough custom to warrant the overheads involved in running the shop. We hoped that the introduction of our cafe would help mitigate the risk of being such a seasonal business but Romsey is saturated with fantastic eateries.

"2019 will pose new challenges in the town centre and with everything taken into account we have decided that following the best summer, we would like to move out on a high note."

In February, the store was awarded a national bronze medal for its Pistachio ice cream, and social media has been flooded with community members saddened at the news that the shop will be closing its doors.

Despite losing their presence in the town, staff did say that the business would continue production to carry on attending food festivals, public events and private functions.

The statement added: "My brilliant team are in the process of applying for other jobs and it's absolutely no surprise to me that they're being snapped up fast! The plan is to gradually reduce down our opening hours as the team start their new roles.

Once again, thank you so very much to all our loyal customers."