TWO of the region's landmark pubs have been taken over.

The King's Arms, in Reeth, Swaledale, North Yorkshire, and the George Hotel, in Piercebridge, County Durham, have been acquired by Tadcaster Inns as part of a £20m deal.

The George Hotel was one of the casualties when the London and Edinburgh Swallow group, parent company of Swallow Hotels, plunged into administration last year.

The George was closed and all the staff were made redundant, but the former general managers later stepped in to take over the lease and re-open the hotel.

North Yorkshire-based Tadcaster Inns is run by businessman Jim Walsh, who once owned 75 community pubs in Yorkshire and the North-East before selling to national pub company Punch Taverns for £19m, in 2001.

He then started a second pub company with managing director James Crawfurd-Porter, eventually building a portfolio of 67 pubs throughout the North and Midlands.

Mr Walsh said: "We are looking to buy traditional inns of quality and character that will benefit from immediate investment in physical improvements combined with the guiding hand of our experienced business advisers to help continue growing trade."

The ten-bedroom King's Arms was built in 1734. The 16th Century, 35-bedroom, George Hotel is set on the banks of the River Tees, near Darlington.