THE owner of an iconic Lake District former hotel and pub has been ordered to stop its unauthorised use as a holiday let after a planning appeal was dismissed.

Joof Hotels Ltd, which bought The Crown and Mitre Inn in Bampton Grange in October 2021 for £410,000, has been given three months by the Planning Inspectorate to stop using it as a single-group short-term holiday let.

The Lake District National Park Authority handed Joof Hotels Ltd an enforcement notice for the unauthorised use in September 2022, advertising it as a '12-bedroom, 24-person holiday let'.

The Crown and Mitre's permitted use is as a pub and hotel, however Joof Hotels Ltd argued that the change from hotel to the current use did not constitute a 'material change of use'.

However, Planning Inspector Grahame Kean said in his report: "Self-catering holiday accommodation does not fit easily into what most people regard as an hotel, boarding or guest house use."

He cites the lack of a provision of food, drink and an on-site presence as factors in this.

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Mr Kean wrote: "The evidence is that until recently, the public house met the local community's needs to provide food and drink.

"Whether its loss is necessary depends on its commercially viability.

Mr Kean also stated that recorded profits published in 2017 of £50,000, according to sales particulars, with the pub only trading from March to September meant that it is 'possible' that the pub could be run as a viable business year-round.

The report cited complaints by nearby residents, of 'large groups of partying individuals, rowdy, and drunken behaviour'.

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Mr Kean also relates an account of the owner of a cleaning company employed at the property.

His report said: "The company's owner told me they had to clean up vomit and other bodily excretions after parties held on the property and eventually, they had to cease operations as they did not feel it was run in a manner respectful of the amenities of neighbours."

Mr Kean dismissed the appeal, as well as rejecting Joof Hotel's request for an 18-month temporary permission, ordering the use to cease withing three months.

The nearby Mardale Inn was successfully reopened by the Bampton Valley Community Pub group in 2022.