A YORK B&B is to close next month after being run by the same family for more than 90 years - and regulars say they are 'gutted' by the news.

The York Priory in Fulford Road will shut its doors permanently on September 5, with the owner Lizzie Jackson saying the lockdowns had 'speeded up the process' of making the decision.

She posted on Facebook that the pandemic closures had 'brought a new reality' to her, with no trade at the hotel from late November to May 17.

"We opened the doors again in spring, and with heavy hearts, and looked around the building to see the amount of the deterioration that had occurred," she said.

"It felt like I had to climb a mountain that just keeps going up and up and up. A mountain that at my age is too big to climb."

She said her family was spread around the world and she couldn't wait to be reunited with them.

She said she had some 'fabulous memories' from the years of running the Priory, 'some shocking, some plain scary, some sad, some absolutely wonderful."

She said she hoped that both houses, numbers 126 and 128, would be returned to what they were meant for, as two very grand houses 'for families to enjoy the beauty and grandeur of them,' and they would not be turned into flats or Airbnb or rented accommodation.

She paid tribute to her parents and to her grandmother, who had established the business in 1930 as a boarding house and ran it with her mother and father until her death in April 1966. "She must have been an incredible strong lady who was widowed at the time with two small kids, my father being only three. In 1930, she must have been true woman of substance.

Scores of customers who have stayed at the Priory took to Facebook to say how saddened they were to hear it was closing.

"I'm absolutely gutted, for my own selfish reasons but I'm so glad we got to stay with you again this year. I wish you the very best and thank you for letting us stay. Sad times," said one.

Another said: "Such sad news, we were hoping to stay with you next year for our 10 year wedding anniversary (14 years together). Your guest house was where it all began for my wife and I."

A third said: "Oh Lizzie, so sorry to hear this, but now the time is for you to enjoy with your family. Your mum and dad would be so proud of what you have done with the Priory, now it's your time to enjoy life."