A beloved vegan café in Hitchin is set to close its doors for the final time later this month.

Chia Naturally Healthy, in Market Place, will mark its last day on Sunday, June 11.

Lucy Fisher opened the café in 2015, inspired by a family trip to Australia where she found that healthy cafés were booming.

But now she is preparing to step away from the business, saying that she wants "to be able to focus on raising my children and being there for them always".

During the eight years in which Chia has been open, vegan food has gone from strength-to-strength with more and more options available to people eating out. Lucy herself found that the popularity of Veganuary had boosted Chia's takings.

A Facebook post telling customers about the upcoming closure received hundreds of reactions, and more than one hundred comments thanking the café.

In the post, Lucy wrote: "We know for our loyal customers this will come as sad news but this felt like the right time for us as a family.

"My Chia values are strong but my family values are stronger and I want to be able to focus on raising my children and being there for them always. Having a business makes this difficult at times.

"I opened Chia as a passion project wanting to bring plant based health food to the mainstream high street and what a journey it has been.

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"From being the minority, to now being able to go into nearly all cafes/restaurants and having options is a great feeling and I feel as a community we helped make that happen.

"This may not be the end of Chia forever we will just have to see where life takes us.

"We want to say the biggest thank you to the wonderful community that Chia has grown over the years, we couldn’t have done it without you.

"Chia has made such a difference to so many people, so many animals and the planet on so many levels in its short time and of that we are unbelievably proud.

"We do hope we see you over the next couple of weeks to make the most of getting your favourites in before closing day."