THIS week will see the end of an era for Stirton's Tarn House Country Inn as last orders are called for the final time.

Tarn House has been run as an hotel for the last 30 years but current owner Lindsay Ackroyd recently announced that the business was no longer viable.

The building has been sold to Tozer Rural Developments, of Skipton, which hopes to convert it for housing.

The application will go before Craven District Council's planning committee on Monday, and is recommended for approval.

Tarn House's demise has been blamed on the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak with not enough people returning to support the business after the crisis ended.

The imposing Victorian building was constructed in 1860 and is set in one-and-a-half acres of lawned gardens.

Mr Ackroyd bought Tarn House in 1980, but sold it in 1984. After four new owners could not turn the business into a success, Mr Ackroyd bought it back in 1991.

He said the hotel was too small for the property to survive on room bookings alone, but pre-foot and mouth was ticking over as a community pub.

However, when the crisis struck weddings and farming events were cancelled, tourists went to the seaside and locals did not drink there.

Tozer Rural Developments hopes to convert the property into six houses. The plans show two, three and four bedroom dwellings with 22 car parking spaces.

New garages would be constructed at the rear of the building.

The access road would not be altered and no new roads would be created on the site. Each property would have its own private garden.

Rod Tozer, manager of the development firm, said Tarn House was an "extremely attractive building that wanted handling with care."

He said the development would be sympathetic and have little impact on the exterior appearance of the building.

The scheme has been opposed by the Stirton and Thorlby Parish Meeting, which said it was "overwhelmingly against the change of use".

It claimed that insufficient effort had been put into selling the property as a going concern.

In a report to Monday's planning meeting, council officers agree that the applicant has not fully demonstrated that efforts have been made to save the hotel facilities.

However they add there is no conclusive evidence that significant commercial demand exists to make the present use of the premises viable.

"The residential conversion may be the most practicable way of securing the retention of this attractive building without harming the present character and appearance of the site, and the benefits of the application would appear to outweigh any harm caused by the loss of hotel facilities."