AN escape room will be forced to close after the new owner of its building said they want to change its use.

Escape From Space, at 35 Catherine Street, will close at the end of April as the landlord of the building plans to convert the building into a bed and breakfast.

Gavin Barrett, owner of Salisbury Escape Rooms, said he looked at alternative premises around the city to move the activity but nothing was available that suited his "specific requirements".

Mr Barrett also blamed the "overall business environment" as an additional factor in his decision to shrink the business down to one premises.

"Despite high inflation and rising costs in recent years, the thresholds for many of the schemes that help small businesses, such as the VAT threshold, employment allowance, and small business rate relief, have remained largely static," he said.

"Therefore it is now deemed necessary to shrink the business down accordingly, to remain profitable."

Run alongside 'Death at the Lab' in Fisherton Street, Escape From Space opened in July 2022 and has welcomed 1,322 teams and counting.

Salisbury Journal: Salisbury Escape Rooms opened Escape from Space in July 2022.Salisbury Escape Rooms opened Escape from Space in July 2022.

The Red Dwarf-inspired game went down a storm with guests and earned a perfect five-out-of-five score from more than 1k Trip Advisor reviews.

It takes players on an "out of this world" adventure to retrace the last steps of a space ship crew before things went wrong and it the vessel was left abandoned.

Read more: ​Salisbury Escape Rooms to open new game Escape From Space

Available for either two players or three to six, Escape from Space is open until the End of April.

Mr Barrett said it is "sad" to be closing but there are plans for a new game on the horizon.

"Our loyal escapees can look forward to a new scenario at our Fisherton street premises in due course," he added.

In a social media update, a spokesperson for Salisbury Escape Rooms said: "It is with the deepest hearts that due to circumstances out of our control, our beloved game Escape From Space on 35 Catherine Street will be shutting down soon.

"We would like to thank the many amazing teams who have played EFS over the last year and a half as well as our incredible games masters who really made EFS a truly special experience for every one of our guests."

For more information about Escape from Space visit salisburyescape.com/escape-from-space.