A business has been forced to announce its closure after the landlord announced the premises would be turned into houses.

Crepeaholic, in Braintree Road, Witham, will sadly close its doors in January as work begins on building two houses where the café once stood.

Owners Ashley Gardiner and Wesley Dell’ovo will keep the business open until early January and have said Christmas will be emotional.

Miss Gardiner, 29, said: “When we first moved in to the building in 2014 we had a set timeframe on the lease and we tried to renew it, but couldn’t.

“Our landlord sold so we had an idea that flats were on the agenda, they started building around us and we asked for a 15 year term.

“The business was only started by myself and my partner as a kiosk in Chelmsford where we were for two years.

“We put money in to it and worked seven days a week getting ourselves into a comfortable position.”

The café, in Cullen Mill, is one of several buildings in the road being turned into homes, with nine flats already on the market.

Another block is mid-construction and planning permission has been requested for a listed office building conversion.

The couple, who met working at Pret A Manger, will now have to say goodbye to two members of staff.

Miss Gardiner said: “We cannot thank enough all of our wonderful, loyal and supportive customers.

“Without them none of this would have been possible.

“We are going to miss everyone so much but we will have the beautiful memories of every step of our journey and each one of them in it.

“We have worked our hearts and socks off and it’s going to be an emotional and tough end to the year.”