After racking up £100,000 of debts in just over two years the much loved Matthews Yard faces closure unless people dip into their pockets to help stop it going into administration.

The cafe and co-working space in Matthew’s Yard, off Surrey Street, is set to make a small profit this year, the first time this has happened since it opened in April 2012.

But despite this profit it has £29,500 of urgent debts to be paid.

And if it is does not find at least £10,000 by the end of February it will have to shut down.

Owner and co-founder Saif Bonar has spent the last year juggling debts to pay other debts and he said it has worn him out.

He has stopped taking a salary from the business in Matthew’s Yard, off Surrey Street, Croydon, and it has not directly employed staff since last January.

Nowadays the staff run the food and coffee part of the business on a concession basis, paying rent to Matthews Yard and then take home whatever profits they make.

Your Local Guardian:

Mr Bonar is ready to step aside from the business but is not willing to do this until the finances are sorted.

He said: "When I started out Matthews Yard was a lot based on impulse and passion.

"The idea was that we could do it for a lot less money than it actually cost.

"But the more time I was spending refurbishing and reinvesting, it still wasn’t enough and as money ran out we started putting it on credit cards.

"In terms of from where we started, we probably should not be here today.

"We never expected it to be on the scale of things that it is today.

"It’s been pulled into different directions and it is infinitely better than we first thought but it wasn’t the original plan [of just a cafe] which would have been a lot cheaper.

"I’m confident that we are going to get out of this mess but I do want to be open and honest with people.

"We are financially infinitely better off than we have ever been but it is a cash flow problem."

One of the ways Mr Bonar has come up with to solve the cash flow problem is restructure the debt by inventing the Matthews Yard Loan Fund.

The fund is hoping to raise up to £50,000 with a minimum loan amount of £250.

For every £250 borrowed, Matthews Yard will repay £315 over three years, with quarterly payments in arrears.

It needs to secure at least £5,000 in loan funding and £5,000 next month to save it from going into administration at the end of February.

Mr Bonar added: "By restructuring the debt and putting it through the loan fund it makes it more manageable and puts it over three years.

"By being profitable we can trade our way out [of debt]."

Matthews Yard opened in April 2012 and at the time was seen as sign the area was recovering after the riots of the previous August.

It has become a base for lots of social events since then but Mr Bonar said the impact of the cafe has diminished.

He added: "Twelve months ago nobody would have allowed it to fail but as every other venue opens and as all these great things are happening in Croydon the impact of Matthews Yard diminishes.

"I’m appealing to ordinary people to bail it out.

"We have a finite time to turn it around."

Go to http://matthewsyard.com/support-us/loan-fund for more details about getting involved in the loan fund.

Matthews Yard in the news:

Popular Croydon cafe Matthews Yard celebrates first year in business

First crowdfunded theatre in the country to open in Croydon later this month

New workspace created in wake of Croydon riots opens today

CROYDON RIOTS THREE YEARS ON: Tech City and Matthew's Yard among the good to emerge