A charity with a 145 year connection to Felixstowe is joining the exodus of businesses leaving the resort, by shutting down its town centre shop.

Barnardo's will closes its store in Hamilton Road on Friday, January 21 after deciding it was no longer viable to operate.

The store has stopped taking donations at Felixstowe but but has suggested contributors take them to the shops in Ipswich.

Barnardo's opened its shop in the 1980s after first having presence in the resort 1886 when it opened a children's convalescent home at Chelsea Villas in Cobbold Road, not far from the junction with Ranelagh Road.

In 1925, the charity relocated to Harland House in Undercliff Road East. The seafront property served as a children's home and later for other purposes - including as a reception home and long-term mixed accommodation - until it closed in 1981.

The closure follows other recent decisions by businesses in Felixstowe town centre to shut down.