THE residents of three villages on the edge of the North York Moors national park are fighting a landlord's plans to close their only pub.

The landlord of the Gold Cup inn in Nether Silton, near Thirsk, has submitted a change of use application to the national park authority to turn the pub into a house.

The pub, named after a horse race once run on the moors, has stood in Nether Silton for more than 200 years, and is also the local for people from Over Silton and Kepwick.

A meeting last week in Nether Silton village hall to discuss how to fight the closure attracted more than 50 people. A petition registering objections to the scheme with the North York Moors national park authority has already gathered 150 signatures.

Coun Gordon Dennis, chairman of Nether Silton parish council, said: "This is a very controversial issue in the village. Everyone has written individual letters to the park authority and we have the petition. All we can do now is await the outcome of the national park authority meeting."

Coun Dennis believes the pub could be a big success. "It is a pub on a main cycle route and seven or eight footpaths converge in the village within about 50 metres of the Gold Cup. The Hambleton Way is not that far away," he said.

"These all make it an enterprise that could be a success. It is very much in a tourist area but it is like any other business - you have got to work at them to make them a success."

He fears the loss of the pub would be a big blow to the area's sense of community. "The Gold Cup is a focal point for three villages and has been there for more than 200 years. It is like the hub of a hive. If it goes, it will be a tremendous loss."

But landlord Mr Dudley Martin says he has run the pub at a loss for five years. "Unfortunately the village is getting smaller and I am getting fewer and fewer regulars. It has become unviable," he said.

"I have supported the pub myself with my own money for the last five years. We have spent a lot of time and money building it up with a restaurant.

"While we are in the national park, we are not in the "main drag" through the park, and we are finding it difficult to survive."