A 20-year-old cafe which employs adults with learning difficulties has less than three months to survive unless it attracts more customers.

Managers at Bytes, the coffee shop at charity HFT, formerly the Home Farm Trust, in Potash Lane, Milton Heights, near Abingdon, plan to shut up shop in September unless numbers increase.

Bytes, which sells hot meals and refreshments, provides work for many of the residents and is also used by staff and the public.

The main site at Milton Heights started 25 years ago and some of the 38 residents have lived there since it opened.

Project manager Georgina Duncan wants to set up an NVQ course to run alongside the coffee shop to help the 12 residents who work there to gain a formal qualification.

Miss Duncan said: “They do all sorts of things like preparing the fresh quiches, salads, serving customers and help with the general preparation.

“At the moment the coffee shop is taking about £100 a day and the average customer spends about £6. There have been days when we have had just six customers.

“Management are looking to close the coffee shop in September, but this is still open to negotiation. It would still be used as a training resource, but they really benefit from interaction in the community.

“It’s a very valuable experience for them.”

The charity explained it was not about money, but persuading managers the service was worthwhile.

Barbara Williams, from HFT, said: “Because of our position tucked away in a leafy corner of Milton Heights, people just do not know we are there and the cafe is now threatened with closure unless we can get more people using it.”

l Bytes is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9am-2.30pm, and for Sunday dinners on the first Sunday of every month. Call 01235 827606