A COSY village tearoom faces closure and its customers might have to get their cuppas elsewhere, after the lease was not renewed.

Loyal clients have been in touch with the Star to protest about the news and Christina Darlington who has run The Tartan Tearooms in Rainford for the past ten years, admits that when she received notice from her landlord Co-op to move out, it hit her hard.

"I found out just before Christmas," she said. "Although they are well within their rights not to renew my lease, a lot of locals are going to be left without a place to go because there is not another caf in the village."

Christina told the Star that she is looking for other premises in Rainford, but everything is 'up in the air' at the moment.

A spokesman for the Co-op, who has a store adjoining the tearooms plus the former Nevins site 100 yards away, said that planning permission has yet to be granted, but they are planning to extend their current store into the tearoom.

They added: "At the moment we are dealing with the owner and there are several options open to both of us. We are not just doing this irrespective of what everybody in the village thinks."