Yvonne serves up tea and sympathy for last time

Macsnacks, in The Arcade, for the final time on Friday.

Customers wished her well and thanked her for being a listening ear and a good friend over the 21 years she ran the business.

Yvonne, 69, overcame health problems including a brain operation, stroke and heart condition, to return to work each time in recent years, but has now decided to call it a day and retire.

“I just got on with it, although I did cut my hours back and my family, especially my daughter, Lee and grandson, Joe, have been a great help with the cooking.

“I loved running the café and would have kept it going, had it not been for my health, but I have got to a stage where I need to take the advice to slow down now.

“I’ll really miss the customers – they came in here and talked to me about their problems, young and old,” said Yvonne.

She and her late husband Leslie opened Macsnacks in June, 1992, four years after moving to Littlehampton from south London to be nearer Yvonne’s parents, who had retired to the south coast.

Sadly, Leslie died from Leukaemia in 1995. “It had been his dream to have a café,” said Yvonne, “and I just kept it on.”

She has two children, Justin and Lee, and six grandchildren.

However, Yvonne, who lives in Littlehampton, won’t just be spending more time with her family, as she plans to take up volunteering to keep herself occupied.

A Portuguese businessman has taken over the café.