Niall Horan splits from girlfriend

One Direction band member Niall Horan has reportedly split from his Australian girlfriend Melissa Whitelaw after struggling to make their long distance relationship work.

The pair met while the British boyband One Direction toured Australia in February and while the two still enjoy each other's company, it is thought and they have now decided just to be friends, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"Niall and Melissa did well to keep their romance low-profile during their time together. They were really close and had fun whenever they went out together," a solurce said.

"But realistically they always knew it was going to be tough, keeping a relationship going with such distance between them. He now intends to focus totally on the band," the source told The Sun newspaper.

The 21-year-old singer has since been spotted partying here with pop star Ariana Grande.

Horan joined Grande backstage after she performed at the O2 Arena before the pair headed to Cirque De Soir where they partied until the early hours of Tuesday morning.