A NORTH Yorkshire village will find out later this month whether one of its traditional pubs is to be closed for good and converted into a luxury home.

The Blackwell Ox pub in Sutton-on-the-Forest has not traded since the middle of last year, but the owners now want to convert the pub into a seven bedroomed family home.

Plans for the pub, on Huby Road in the village, will go before Hambleton District Council's planning committee on Thursday, April 30.

And despite objections from people in the village who want to see the business resurrected, the plans have won the support of planners at the district council who have recommended the scheme be approved.

A written report to the planning committee says that although the pub was a valuable community facility, the business's accounts show it had been losing money - around £500,000 over five years, according to planning documents.

The report also points out that the pub had been on the market as a business for over nine months, but failed to find a buyer; and adds that Sutton-on-the-Forest has another successful pub in the Rose and Crown while there are other accommodation businesses nearby at both Huby and Burn.

Sutton-on-the-Forest's parish council has written to the district council, saying the councillors can only support the application to turn the pub into a home "with a heavy heart at the loss of a village amenity."

But the parish council also asked chartered surveyor Barry Crux to look at the business case, and Mr Crux told the district council that with the right management, the Blackwell Ox could be a viable concern in Sutton-on-the-Forest, as it was comprehensively refurbished 10 years ago and has the facilities to serve food, as well as seven letting rooms.

In a written submission to the planners, he added: "There are plenty of examples of public houses in small villages, or indeed isolated locations, which achieve excellent levels of sales and hence profitability, despite other factors which might combine against them,"