Honeytree Day Nursery & Pre-school has announced permanent closure with immediate effect.

At a meeting held February 7, staff at the Grange Road nursery informed parents the popular venue will close, effective immediately.

The decision came after 'long standing' staffing issues caused by the pandemic, which previously led to repeated closures.

The closure has spawned a flurry of concerned parents - particularly those who work at the hospital - desperately trying to find a new childcare provider.

Many nurseries in the area have also stated they are turning parents away due to 'extremely long' waiting lists.

However, Honeytree will remain open for hospital staff until March 31 so they have adequate time to find alternative provision.

An email from University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW) - owner of the site - to staff at Weston General, said: "It is recognised that for those of you with children registered at the nursery this will be concerning news, as well as for those of you who played an integral role in establishing the facility in the first place.

"Please be assured we are now exploring all options and will keep you updated with further information as this progresses."

Early years education provider Storal Learning has operated Honeytree for four years, and said Covid-related issues had caused 'several periods of disruption'.

Storal managing director, Ashwin Grover, said Honeytree was experiencing 'extreme' levels of staffing shortages at the end of last year which meant that on several occasions the nursery was forced to close.

He said: "With a very heavy heart we came to the decision to close on Saturday - we decided that if we stayed open, we would experience further closures and this wouldn’t be fair to families or staff.

"Faced with the continued levels of disruption caused by poor recruitment, it simply wasn't viable to continue operating."

Mr Grover said the early years sector has struggled to recruit due to the pandemic.

He added: "The nursery was forced to increasingly rely on agency workers which is an unsustainable strategy in the long term.

"Our hope was to always find a solution. It was a very difficult decision for us to make especially given the importance of Honeytree in the local community and a key location by the hospital.

"We lost a few members of the team at the end of last year and it's been particularly challenging to replace them with qualified staff.

"We tried everything to recruit - with some level of success - but sadly this wasn't enough.

"Honeytree plays an important role in the community and we will work with UHBW while they decide the site's future."

In a statement, UHBW said: "We would like to thank all of the staff at Honeytree both past and present for their dedication to
the children in their care."