Landlady facing legal action over pub turned into tearoom

A pub owner is facing legal action after turning the building into a tearoom without permission.

Joanne Cox has been served with an enforcement notice ordering her to stop using The Moorcock Inn, in Garsdale Head, for the new business.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority took action after her retrospective planning application was rejected.

The BBC has attempted to contact Ms Cox for comment.

In a recent planning meeting, officers said the 18th-century inn was a "valuable community facility with potential for a sustainable business to continue in the future".

Planners also rejected a retrospective application from Ms Cox to use the property as her main residence and a holiday let.

Minutes from the meeting said it had been refused on the grounds the changes were "harmful to the social vitality of the community and the rural economy".

It added that no independent assessments had been carried out "to demonstrate that there is no option other than to permanently close it and change its use to a dwelling" and that the alterations were "not considered to be of equivalent benefit to the community or the local economy".

Planners previously decided while Ms Cox did not have to turn the building back into a pub she must cease using it as a dwelling house, as well as remove any fixtures and fittings associated with the new business.

Ms Cox bought the pub in 2016 but started building work on it last year, claiming it was unviable as a business.

At an earlier committee meeting, she stated she was struggling with the business due to being unable to recruit new staff and that the building's original interiors were destroyed in a fire in the 1970s.

According to the enforcement notice Ms Cox has six months to cease operating her venture.