Harvey’s Coffee House has confirmed it will close its doors at the end of June.

In a post shared on Harvey’s Instagram account on Tuesday (29/04), the café announced that it will be shutting at the end of the 2024-25 academic year, opening for the final time on 26/06.

The café, located at Gonville and Caius’ Harvey Court site, first opened in 2022. However, due to “a steep increase in costs,” Harvey’s claimed that “operating in a sustainable way” would no longer be possible.

In a statement made on the College’s Instagram, Caius’ Domestic Bursar, Karen Ball, wrote: “It has been a pleasure to work with Michael and his team at Harvey’s, which has been a thriving hub at our West Road site”. The College added: “We wish Michael and his team all the very best for the future.”

Ball also revealed that the Caius is “in the early stages of planning for a new Harvey Court café“.

This comes after Harvey’s launched a campaign to stay open last month. In a post that suggested the café had become financially unsustainable, they urged students to “Help us save Harvey’s Coffee House”. They pointed to the rent of the site as the most significant cause of financial concern.

One student expressed her disappointment at the failure of the campaign, telling Varsity that she “thought the place had been saved” by the outpouring of support the café received during Lent.

The coffee house has been popular with both Caians and students from other Colleges, with its location at Sidgwick making it a regular destination for many humanities students.

One Caius student told Varsity that Harvey’s is “an integral part of life for everyone at Harvey Court,” adding: “Its closure is not the closure of another cafe, but the elimination of one of the few spaces which truly loved their customers, and made students feel better amidst an environment where everything else radiates stress.”

Since first opening at West Road, the café has gained a reputation for its quality, being ranked the best option for a Sidgwick lunch in a recent Varsity article. Emphasising Harvey’s uniqueness, one student joked: “I’d love to know who Caius intends to take their place, Starbucks?”

A student at Murray Edwards explained that, although the café is “far away,” the atmosphere is “really calming and conductive to study, especially as a neurodivergent student who needs some level of background noise”.

Another student told Varsity that “Harvey’s had a cosier environment which some of the more clinical Sidge spaces lacked, and the staff went above and beyond,” adding: “I’m very sad to see it go so abruptly.”

Harvey’s Coffee House was contacted for comment.