IT was one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's most popular creations and its many patrons were disappointed when they heard that it was threatened with closure.

But now the Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, which attracts around 150,000 visitors a year, will remain open for at least another year after its management secured a new lease until September 2014.

The tea rooms are based in an A-listed building badly in need of repair and Anne Mulhern, who has run the popular attraction since 1983, was facing a crisis because her landlord, Henderson jewellers, had gone out of business.

There was a danger that the tea rooms, opened at No 217 Sauchiehall Street by Mackintosh's most famous patron, Kate Cranston, would close at the end of May, but now its operation in the building has been secured until next year.

Ms Mulhern believes only an outright purchase of the site can lead to the relevant repairs being done and she also fears the effects of the weather on the building, which is not fully wind and watertight.

She said: "We are absolutely delighted that the lease has been secured for another year.

"We actually thought we would be out of the building by the end of May, but just last week we received the good news.

"I now hope that someone will buy the building and it will be brought back to the way it was before."

Ms Mulhern said staff had been inundated with well-wishers since it was revealed the tea rooms would stay open for at least another year.

She added: "Lots of people have been coming in and telling us how happy they are that we are staying open. The response has been unbelievable."

The building itself is currently owned by a pension fund, but its sale is being handled by Lloyds Bank.

Renovations and repairs would cost £450,000, it is believed, and buying the building outright would cost around another £300,000.

The tea rooms are on the ground floor of the building, whose interior and asymmetric facade were designed by Scotland's most famous architect.

Ms Mulhern has plans to install a gift shop now that Henderson jewellers have vacated the ground floor.

The tea rooms' reprieve will, span the Commonwealth Games, when many visitors will come to the city.

It is hoped that having the rooms open will allow more time for a buyer to come forward and the building to be restored. If the establishment had closed, 25 people would have lost their jobs and 30 continuous years of tea rooms history would be at an end.

The Willow Tea Rooms opened in November 1904 with the Room de Luxe as its main attraction, featuring silver furniture and leaded mirror friezes.

Mackintosh had complete control over every design in the property, including the cutlery and waitress dresses.

The name comes from Sauchiehall Street, the famous Glasgow thoroughfare on which it is situated, and which in Gaelic means "alley of the willows". Willows form a theme throughout the establishment's design.

The tea rooms was a significant achievement in Mackintosh's career, marking the first time he was given the opportunity not only to design interior fittings, but also the layout of a building.