In a “very sad day for the Bournemouth community”, trustees of the local Jewish residential home, Hannah Levy House, have taken the decision to close it at the end of January on financial grounds.
The 31-bed capacity home is currently barely half-full with 16 residents, 13 of whom are Jewish.
One of the trustees, Councillor Lawrence Williams, said the home was close to closing a year ago, only to be saved by a few large bequests.
But the Covid crisis had increased its problems as it could not accept new residents who had been released from hospital in case they had been exposed to the virus. Despite a local appeal for PPE, the cost of running the home securely during the pandemic had also increased.
