A popular tourist town at the mouth of the Moore River, 100 kilometres north of Perth, is now without a standalone cafe.
The Guilderton Cafe closed its doors last week, with lessee Belgravia Leisure blaming increased operating costs.
Guilderton is home to 150 full-time residents, but welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
Vice-president of the Guilderton Community Association Linda Johnson says the closure will have a major impact on tourism.
"It's essential that we have some kind of services for tourists," she said.
"We get thousands of people down here in the summer and on the weekends... a cafe is essential down at the foreshore."
Claims of sub-par service
When news of the closure broke last week, dozens of locals and regular visitors took to social media to air their grievances.
Many complained the site had failed to provide a proper service, with the doors often closed by 3pm.
The cafe didn't open for several months last year while it underwent renovations, and many visitors claim the final product looked nothing like the presentation supplied in its tender submission.
Ms Johnson says more than 80 per cent of Guilderton residents and visitors feel let down by Belgravia Leisure, which also runs the town's caravan park.
"We've been complaining [to the shire] ever since Belgravia took over," she said.
"We were promised great improvements to the caravan park and the cafe and they never materialised.
Former lessee 'bitter'
Local woman Kerry Enright ran the cafe for seven years until 2021, when the Shire of Gingin chose to hand over the lease to Belgravia Leisure.
She said she was stunned when the Shire did not renew her lease.
"I was shocked when they first told me they weren't going to renew it … but by the time the tender came out, I was kind of resigned," she said.
"I had this feeling it was going to go to Belgravia because they're now running the caravan park as well."
Ms Enright now runs the Moore River Roadhouse but said her time at the cafe has left her with a large debt.
"Because of COVID, finances were tight. We renegotiated our mortgage on that place … I'm still paying off a debt of $550,000," she said.
Gingin Shire 'disappointed'
Belgravia Leisure said it had received several expressions of interest from businesses looking to take over the cafe, and expected the current closure to be short-term.
The company blames reduced opening times on difficulty attracting staff, and said $390,000 was spent on renovating the site.
It said plans to complete a full renovation became unviable due to escalating building costs.
Gingin Shire President Wayne Fewster said council was disappointed by the closure, but remained hopeful of a quick re-opening.
"We're as disappointed as anyone that it's not open but we are working with Belgravia as quickly as possible to get it resolved," he said.
The shire has organised food vans for the foreshore on weekends while it works to reopen the cafe.
Locals are expected to hold a protest meeting on Saturday, asking the shire to pay more attention to their concerns.
