THE owners of a Winchester cafe/bar which closed suddenly say they are struggling to keep their other business going.

Alex Donnan and Laura Turner shut Autumn House in The Square last Monday.

Now they have written to members of their other business, The Pump House, on Garnier Road in St Cross, outlining the situation and seeking funding for a new initiative.

In a letter seen by the Chronicle, they write: "This is an important message that I wanted to make sure you hear about before we make it public.

READ MORE HERE: Autumn House' sudden closure

"Since we opened Autumn House last year, we have tried with our best efforts to create something special and evolve with the changing environment but it has proved increasingly difficult and our only option now is to cease trading and close the doors.

"It should be known that we are fighting hard to keep The Pump House going in these challenging times, although the future is looking brighter than before we are definitely not out of the woods yet. Our focus is now fully on building and strengthening The Pump House business and we're excited about the future.

"We are in negotiations with the landlord (Winchester College) about our lease, with the aim of extending the lease to 10 years and getting a better deal. We also have plans to create a much better health and well being centre in the new building to the rear (the old Eco Kitchen building) which will see better gym equipment, proper studio, sauna and plunge pool.

SEE MORE: Abandoned milk bottles set to burst at closed cafe/bar

"As you can imagine this will take a sizeable investment and will be appealing to our members for new investment to do this. We will be releasing more information about the investment opportunity in the next couple of days.

Pump House owners Alex and Laura also used to own The General Store, across the road in The Square, but the shop and café was taken over by new owners and under a different company in February.

Hampshire Chronicle: The sour milk inside Autumn House

Meanwhile the nine four-pint plastic bottles left inside the cafe last Monday have been collected before they could burst.

The Pump House has been contacted for further comment.