A cafè that acts as a community resource for family carers in Suffolk is under threat of closure.

The Suffolk Family Carers cafè in Claydon will shut in its current format because it is no longer “financially viable”.

However, the charity’s trustees are set to meet this week to consider rebranding The View as a drop-in centre.

Jane Davy, who has been a part-time carer for her teenage daughter for three years, has expressed concerns over the closure.

“You know when you go in there that lots of the people will be in the same boat as you,” said Mrs Davy, of Stowmarket.

“Most of the staff are volunteers and probably carers themselves so when they are not busy they will come and have a chat. It’s not like going into just another shop, it feels like a community resource.”

Mrs Davy, 56, said she found it particularly useful when her daughter was in hospital because she was doing a lot of travelling and she would often use it to get something to eat and cup of coffee in a “safe place”.

She added: “Once its gone its gone and it just seems like it’s probably a resource that should be promoted and used more rather than get rid of it.”

The cafè includes a quiet room that can seat three people as well as a hireable meeting room for up to 35 people.

It also offers a range of training programmes in partnership with Activities Unlimited for young people including hospitality and management, customer service, food hygiene, as well as confidence building and CV writing.

A Suffolk Family Carers spokeswoman said: “We are recommending to the trustees that we keep the venue open and repurpose it as a ‘drop-in centre’ for family carers with the opportunity to extend its use for family carers events, therapy days or wellbeing courses.

“This would remove the considerable cost of running a retail cafe and evolve the venue to meet even more the needs of carers.”