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.

Accounts filed with the Charity Commission for the year up to May 2019 showed a small loss of around £75,000 on a budget of £1.14 million.

But Councillor Williams said that with a workforce of 45 costing around £800,000 per year, the home had to fill around 25 beds to break even.

Hannah Levy manager Sandra Wills was “totally devastated" by the news. "We’ve all given our heart and soul to the home. One of my staff said: ‘This is like the break-up of a family'.”

Ms Wills is working to find new homes for the residents. But she acknowledged: “It’s a bit harder with the Jewish residents because we have no Jewish home now in Bournemouth, so the nearest is [in] Brighton or London.”

Rabbi Adrian Jesner, who heads Bournemouth’s Orthodox community, said he was “very saddened” to hear the news, adding that the closure of the home would be “a great loss to the town.”