Winchester'S historic youth hostel will close at the end of the summer season, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Manager Laurence Garvin, pictured above, said the building would shut when its lease expires in September.

Now plans have been unveiled by the Youth Hostel Association to convert part of the site into homes.

Closure would leave thousands of mainly young visitors without a budget alternative to hotels and lead to fewer visiting the city. The hostel is partly based at City Mill in Bridge Street with an annexe on Water Lane and is one of the oldest in the country.

Bosses at the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) and the National Trust, which owns the mill, have consistently denied a decision on closure has been made and said discussions about the site were ongoing.

However, the National Trust wants to expand its activities in the mill and has been considering not renewing the hostel's lease.

The YHA has said that would make the rest of the hostel unviable.

The YHA now proposes to convert the Water Lane premises into flats. A spokesman said this was a precaution in case the lease isn't renewed.

Mr Garvin said a decision had already been taken to close the hostel in August leaving him and a second member of staff out of jobs and homes.

He has been told not to take any more bookings after the expected closure date.

Mr Garvin said: "The National Trust is the landlord for part of the property and it wants to expand opportunities into an area which has for the last 75 years been used as a youth hostel.

"I feel extremely resentful. There isn't really anything we can do. I have been there for 20 years, there is just two of us and we will both lose our jobs and our homes.

"Winchester will be without budget accommodation and this will affect tourists, in particular young people in the area on short working contracts, visiting schools, colleges and universities, and families coming for family events. All these people who would have wanted to stay here will not be able to do so."

A spokesman for the YHA said: "The planning application is just a precautionary measure in case we aren't able to renew the lease.

"It is not closing for sure, we are still in negotiations with the National Trust. If we are unable to renew the lease we will have to start looking for another location."

A National Trust spokesman said they were in ongoing discussions with the YHA and denied a decision to close the hostel had already been made.