A unique and very popular café in Worcester will close by the end of May.

Café Bliss, the only Belizean café in the country has been operating form the ground floor of the Worcester Arts workshop building in Sansome Walk for 8 years – but the business has been told by the workshop’s board it must leave.

Manager Amanda Hickling said: “We’re devastated, to be honest. We’ve been here solidly for eight years, and we’ve really built a community.

“We’ve become a wellbeing café and a very important place for so many people here, especially those who are marginalised. We are so much more than just a high street café. We’ve organised so many events here and provided front of house services for the arts workshop

“Our customers are completely up in arms, and asking me what they can do.”

Amanda has run the café for eight years with chef Eloina Bliss, who is from Belize and another Belizean cook, and has three volunteers who work there as well.

The chair of the arts workshop’s board of trustees, which gave Amanda notice to leave said she sympathised with the café.

Anne Hannaford said: “I think it’s a great café and an asset to the city and I really hope that Café Bliss can find somewhere else to open.

“The board has a duty to do its best for the charity - we need the ground-floor space for arts activities, as we have very little of that in the building.

“If it is possible to runs a smaller café then we will, but the money will come back to the charity, not a commercial business as it does now. We get a rental income from the cafe.

“I fell we’ve supported the café as much as we could, and we’ve been very fair. We have given a year’s notice that it will need to move. It is regrettable, but inevitable if we are to take the arts workshop forward.”