Otley’s much-loved Dunnies cafe will close its doors for the last time this weekend.

The riverside business, which has been serving the town since 1925, is set to be demolished to make way for a new care home.

Especially popular with cyclists, motorcyclists and walkers, the cafe will serve its final drinks and sandwichess on Sunday.

Wharfe View Cafe, to give it its official title, and the adjacent Wharfe View News will both be knocked down so the new 48-flat development can be built on the former All Saints Middle School site, off Bridge Street.

Campaigners had been fighting to save the cafe – althought the owners were keen to sell – but their hopes were dashed in December when a planning inspector found in favour of Gladman Care Homes’ appeal.

Town and ward councillor Sandy Lay (Lib Dem, Otley & Yeadon) said: “Now that the decision to build the care home has been made it is time we all moved on, and that includes the owners of Dunnies – I wish them a happy and healthy retirement.

“In time, a new ‘riverside’ cafe will become available in the Garnett’s Mill redevelopment, but in the meantime residents and visitors alike can still find plenty of choice in one of Otley’s many cafes.”

Although much sadness has been voiced over the loss of Dunnies, there has also been relief that one of the town’s long-running ‘eyesores’ is to finally be redeveloped.

The planning inspector had accepted that the cafe was “highly regarded as something of a local institution”, but said its loss would not justify refusing the care home scheme.