A popular tea bar at Watford General run by volunteers is being sold off by the hospital.

The League of Friends run tea station near the outpatient blood clinic is set to close as the hospital continues to struggle under "considerable financial pressure".

Brian Turner, from the Friends, said: "The League of Friends is run mainly by volunteers and therefore can keep the cost down and pass the savings to the general public, to say nothing of the staff that take advantage of this facility. Knowing that the profits are returned to the hospital for the benefits of the patients.

"It may mean a piece of equipment may be purchased for the doctors to enable them to give a better service to the patients."

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust said the potential commercial return was not being maximised.

But Mr Turner said the move would inflict unfair extra costs on people visiting the hospital regularly.

He said: "As a lot of people visiting to the hospital regularly in one fashion or another will be disabled and or elderly to inflict extra cost on them whilst they are visiting the hospital seems unreasonable to me.

"Especially as an adequate service is already in place.

"Is the hospital trust looking for profit at any cost?

"As the Hospital cannot run its own finances and is so far in the red it has little or no chance of getting out of it in the near future - so why do they insist on giving the facility to outsiders who will not put the profits back into the hospital?"

In a statement, the trust said it valued the longstanding service the Friends provided to patients and staff and "deeply regrets" the closure.

It said: "As with many hospitals trusts around the country, West Herts is under considerable financial pressure, much of which is related to ensure safe staffing levels across the three hospitals.

"As a consequence, the trust has carefully reviewed its opportunities to generate income to support the very challenging financial position. It is clear that we are not maximising the potential commercial return of this prime retail location within our outpatients department at Watford General Hospital.

"We have explained to the Friends that we are genuinely sorry to have to take such a step and that the decision has not been taken lightly, or without full consideration of the valued support the Friends continue to offer.

"We are pleased that the Friends will continue to run the tea bar situated at the front of the hospital and that discussions are underway regarding potential further services to directly benefit patients and staff."