A care home for the elderly in Sheringham is closing, with the loss of 30 jobs.

Kingsgate Residential Home in North Street will shut its doors on February 17.

Ginny Taylor, Kingsgate's owner and manager, said she was "hugely sad" about the closure, but felt she had no other choice.

"It's been a part of my life for so long," Mrs Taylor, 54, said, "I've had to make 29 members of staff redundant as well, which is hugely upsetting. There were a lot of tears."

Mrs Taylor said one staff member had worked there for 25 years, another for 24, and someone else for 18 years.

She took over running Kingsgate in 2002 from her mother, who opened the home in 1977.

Mrs Taylor and her late husband took complete ownership in 2008, and she said running the home had become more difficult since he died in 2015.

Kingsgate currently has 21 residents, and Mrs Taylor said she was working with Norfolk County Council to find them new places to live.

"We want to find their 'forever homes' again but we know it's difficult," she said. "We will do our best to make sure they find somewhere to go."

Mrs Taylor said the home was closing mainly due to financial reasons, and the requirements put upon it by health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission.

She said: "Even though we've remained free from Covid, there are a lot of pressures they put on you. You might not have the money to do repairs, but they still expect you to do them all."

Mrs Taylor said the past year had been particularly challenging because of the coronavirus pandemic.

She said: "Everyone in the care industry at the moment is struggling under the demands that Covid has brought to the plate.

"The cost of PPE was when it first started was astronomical, and we had no support with that for the first three months.

"It has been very hard, emotionally and physically draining."

Mrs Taylor said although she was not selling the business as a going concern,but she planned to sell the building after it had been closed and emptied.