THE owners of a Chester city centre café are "heartbroken" they will be closing their doors for the final time at the end of this week.

The Lodge Café in Grosvenor Park has announced that, "with a very heavy heart", its last day of trading will be Sunday, December 31.

While the cafe was able to welcome plenty of passers-by during the summer months, it has cited low winter footfall and inflationary pressures as the reasons for closing.

A statement posted by the café on social media reads: "It is with a very heavy heart that we have decided to close The Lodge Café. Our last day of trading will be Sunday 31st December. We would love to see as many of you as we can before we close our doors for good.

"This decision has not been easy by any means. As I'm sure many of you can understand, the past year has been really tough.

"Whilst the summertime sees a substantial amount visitors to Grosvenor Park, sadly for the rest of the year, it's quite the opposite. Factoring in the low footfall with utility bills rising and the cost of food and drink rapidly increasing, it has been incredibly difficult for us to sustain.

"It has reached a point where we cannot absorb these costs any longer at The Lodge and unfortunately have no other option but to close our doors.

"Over the past 14 months, we have put so much hard work and energy in to making The Lodge a significant asset to the park and a prominent part of the local community.

"We are deeply saddened to lose not only our business, but our fantastic team of staff who have really given The Lodge their all. They have worked so hard to make the café something we can be proud of.

"Thank you to every single person who has supported us since we opened our doors in November 2022. We are so completely heartbroken that we couldn't make it work."