A PUBLICAN will today offer his customers Caribbean cocktails outside a North Yorkshire inn which this time last year was buried beneath 16ft of snow.

Staff at the Lion Inn in Blakey Ridge, on the North York Moors, faced "the ultimate lock-in" when they were cut off by blizzards last November 26.

Two guests and five workers were stranded by snowdrifts which covered the road and buried cars outside, cutting off any escape from the 16th century freehouse, which, at 1,325ft, advertises itself as the country's fourth-highest pub.

Co-owner Paul Crossland said: "This year it's a very different story. We're pretty high up and pretty exposed up here but the snow still caught us a little by surprise last year.”