Good times are here again for crisis-hit hotel

BOOM times are back for an old hotel hit earlier this year by the absence of visitors that came with countryside restrictions because of foot and mouth disease.

Visitor bookings and sales of food and drink for October and November have been the highest recorded for 25 years at the Tankerville Arms Hotel, the 17th Century coaching inn at Wooler in Northumberland. The Tankerville Arms had earlier suffered one of its worst trading periods as foot-and-mouth took hold.

Anne Park, the hotel's proprietress, is delighted by the upturn in trade. She said yesterday: "It was beyond my wildest dreams in spring and summer when cancellations were coming in thick and fast. "The transformation of recent weeks is almost unbelievable. And prospects for Christmas, New Year and beyond look great."

She cites a number of reasons for the turnaround.

"First, of course, is the ending of foot-and-mouth restrictions, which are bringing ramblers back to Wooler in large numbers to walk in the Cheviot Hills. "Many had cancelled their bookings with us earlier. But there is also much more passing trade, which suggests more people are taking their holidays in this country again."

She believes financial help from the Government through One NorthEast and Business Link for Northumberland has also played a part in the recovery of the hotel's business. It enabled the hotel to be re-marked, with a better website and new signs and hoardings.

In July she told the Queen during a royal visit to Northumberland about the difficulties the hotel was experiencing then. "I really felt down in the dumps at that time," she said. "Now it looks as though, by the end of the year our financial position will only be slightly down on last year."