Licensee takes action in wake of foot-and-mouth

A licensee whose business was so badly affected by foot-and-mouth disease that he was forced to give up one of his pubs, is fighting back.Terry...

A licensee whose business was so badly affected by foot-and-mouth disease that he was forced to give up one of his pubs, is fighting back.

Terry Franks (pictured), licensee of the Royal Oak in Braithwaite, near Keswick, is leading a campaign to encourage tourists back to his local area.

Along with the licensee from the village's other pub as well as its restaurateurs and hoteliers, Mr Franks formed the Braithwaite Rural Partnership and was awarded a grant for £18,500 by Business Link in Carlisle, for marketing the area.

"The beginning of the year was very shaky for all of us. It was terrible, but we're not going to wait for things to happen. We're going to take it forward ourselves."

The Government has been criticised for failing to compensate pubs and other small business that are reliant on tourism, for the effects of foot-and-mouth, and Mr Franks said he was tired of waiting.

"We needed to do something ourselves," he said. "We applied for the grant because we knew we had to do something and nobody was going to do it for us."

The partnership intends to use the money to build a website at www.gobraithwaite.co.uk, which will encourage people to visit the village. It has also applied for signs to the village off the main A66 that runs nearby and will spend nearly £10,000 on national advertising and a brochure.

"We're a popular village but we need people to come back," Mr Franks said. "We want to push forward now and get on with recovering."

However he admitted that in parts of the Lake District the outlook was still bleak for many licensees.

"I'm working out the notice on my lease at my other pub in Penrith," he said. "There's still nothing happening there and I know there's at least seven licensees that have thrown in the towel in the last month because of it."

The foot-and-mouth epidemic has been called the "world's worst" and is continuing to affect the tourist trade.

Licensees that have been affected by the disease have protested that the only help available to them has been in the form of rate relief, while farmers have been given compensation.

Liberal Democrat MPs have lobbied the Government for more help for tourism, while the Good Hotel Guide 2002 has accused ministers of costing the industry billions of pounds and thousands of jobs by "shamefully neglecting" tourism.