THE foot-and-mouth epidemic which ravaged much of Britain's holiday and leisure industry last year has proved a mountain too high to climb for businessman Ian Perrin.

Thirteen years ago Mr Perrin had the distinction of starting the first specialist mountain bike shop in the country from his Frosterley premises, in Weardale, County Durham.

It quickly became a boom business with sales of quality bikes and accessories taking off at a pace.

The demand for top-of-the-range mountain bikes became so great that Mr Perrin - a one-man operation - was even thinking about expanding the business.

But then the foot-and-mouth epidemic hit the region, along with all the restrictions it placed on paths and public access in areas such as Hamsterley Forest and other parts of the Durham and Yorkshire dales.

The effect on Mr Perrin's business was "absolutely devastating".

Now he has been forced to close the shop he opened with such high hopes in 1989 and which became a part of the Weardale landscape.

"Although sales and the hiring of mountain bikes had started to level off because more firms had gone into the business, the outbreak of foot-and-mouth came as a dreadful blow," said Mr Perrin.

"Fewer and fewer people were cycling where they could - on roads up and down the dale - and profits were way down. It is very, very sad, but we have come to the end of an era here in Weardale."

Other mountain bike firms have been struggling to stay in business in the aftermath of foot-and-mouth.

When his business was at its peak, Mr Perrin said he was selling between 150 and 200 specialist mountain bikes a year. Now that figure was down to a handful.

He said he would be shortly be putting his business and house next door up for sale. He hoped the shop would carry on as commercial premises.

"It's a sad reflection of how retail businesses were gradually being eroded away in the dale even before the advent of foot-and-mouth. But for me, foot-and-mouth was the final straw."

In Northumberland, Kielder Bikes was badly hit at the start of the epidemic on February 28 last year when Defra closed all public paths and walks because it was feared that deer could the virus.

But this misunderstanding was quickly cleared up by Government vets and the forest was reopened to the public.

"Unfortunately, mainly due to some misinformed media coverage, the damage had already been done," said Kielder Bikes' owner Ken Bone.

"The result has been a pretty desperate year for us and other firms in the mountain bike hiring business," said Mr Bone.

"Although we are now managing to get some customers back, we are just managing to hang on by our fingernails.