A for sale sign has gone up on the Looe St John Ambulance headquarters, on the instructions of the National Grid, the owners of the site and building.

The agents for the sale, Capita, told the Cornish Times that the National Grid is not revealing any details of the sale at the present time.

However, it is believed from local correspondence that the asking price is in the region of £250,000, and that the National Grid has offered the site at a reduced price of £150,000 to St John Ambulance.

The Looe station is situated at the Millpool in West Looe, on a site originally in the ownership of West Looe Town Trust, but through various arrangements it eventually came into the possession of the Gas Board in 1984 and afterwards the National Grid.

The building was largely paid for by the people of Looe, and was erected with voluntary labour, to the memory of 22-year-old local fisherman Albert Pengelly. He lost his life saving a woman from Liskeard who was swept into the river in March 1936. There is a plaque to Albert's memory inside the headquarters.

The building was officially opened in 1945, Looe St John Ambulance having first been formed at a meeting in the Guildhall in 1934 as a section of the Liskeard division.

There is to be a meeting at the Looe headquarters, or in the nearby larger Millpool Centre, dependent on numbers, on Tuesday, October 22, at 7pm. This is for all organisations and individuals in the local community who want to support St John Ambulance, as it discusses a plan to save its presence in the town.

A local spokesperson said: 'The Looe St John, based as we are in a population which also has a large visitor presence and many large events, is always very busy. We have been meeting this week to plan our coverage of the Looe Music Festival when thousands of visitors will be in the town.

'Our building is also the centre for first aid training, and is used on a seven-day-a-week, 24-hourly basis, by the South Western Ambulance Service as a dispatch point. It means they can access calls in Looe and district more quickly than if they were parked at the ambulance station in Liskeard.'

Regional director Steven Hargreaves said: 'We are committed to maintaining St John Ambulance's presence in Looe, so that our volunteers can continue providing valuable first aid cover for events, and training more people to be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.

'As a charity we need to avoid complex and expensive property arrangements, particularly in these financially challenging times, and, unfortunately, we cannot afford to purchase our current premises in Looe even at a discounted rate.

'We're exploring all avenues to retain our unit in Looe.'