Fight to survive

'IT feels like the whole area is completely dead. It's as quiet as a week in March; it's unbelievable." So says Philip Lee, who, together with his mother Sandra, runs Cropton Brewery and the New Inn at Cropton on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. Philip has seen his takings plummet. But he has not been hit as hard as some.

"We had some people stopping here a few days ago. They had booked into some accommodation elsewhere.

"They came down one morning to find the bailiffs were there, removing the furniture. They were even going into the kitchen, taking the catering equipment.

"That's becoming a familiar scenario."

Philip's business has fared better in the teeth of the foot and mouth catastrophe, because it is more diverse. The pub and the bed and breakfast relies on the tourist trade; Cropton Brewery doesn't.

It has built up a reputation for quality - its Monkman's Slaughter beer was named Strong Bitter Of The Year in a national competition. And the company put "a terrific amount of investment" into modernising production methods and increasing output last year.

"We'll survive this year," says Philip. "The problem is, what's going to happen next year? This is a long-term problem."

The bank has increased his business overdraft and offered him a loan, but he is already worried about meeting the interest repayments should the crisis last.

He is bitterly critical of the level of Government support for tourist-dependent businesses.

"We employ more people than the farming community and make more money, but they have got far more assistance than we have. Nobody's given us anything."

He is not hopeful about the future. "People are losing confidence in the countryside. They're sick of the prices here.

"You can get an all-inclusive holiday abroad for whatever you would pay for a week in a Scarborough seafront bed-and-breakfast because of the taxes we pay in this country."

The Upper Carr Chalet and Touring Park near Pickering has won several honours down the years. Last summer it took silver in the national awards to find the Caravan Holiday Park of 2000.

So when Martin Harker and his family took over, they must have been expecting bumper bookings. Foot and mouth put paid to that.

"It certainly has affected us," Martin said. "I can't give you facts and figures because this is my first year. But going by what people tell you, at the same period last year the park was a lot busier."

During the week, occupancy is around 50 per cent, which rises to 75 per cent at weekends.

The park would normally be full or close to full at this time of year.

Trade from abroad is definitely down. "The few continental visitors that I have had say they have seen negative reports about foot and mouth. It made them think twice, and they are sure others in their country won't have come."

Martin is adopting a long haul approach. "I would say we are breaking even, but we are not making what we should be. We're tightening our belts."

Just up the road at Pickering Tourist Information Centre, deemed the best in Yorkshire a couple of years back, accommodation bookings are down.

But manager Les Clarke says business has picked up since the start of the summer holidays.

Meanwhile, staff are dealing with countless inquiries from people anxious to know what's open and what is not. "It's because people have picked up the perception that the whole area is closed." They are working hard to persuade people otherwise, and to spread the message that "you can still enjoy the area".

Anecdotal evidence suggests that some businesses are struggling severely, Les said. "It's going to affect small, younger businesses, where they haven't the repeat business and have just made a substantial investment in starting up."

Ryedale Folk Museum at Hutton-le-Hole is a former Museum Of The Year. Curator Martin Watts says its season so far has been "very mixed. For example. March and April were very, very, very bad months but May and July were much better.

"It is partly due to the pick-up in the weather. It is partly due to the fact that this particular institution has done a lot of events recently, giving us a lot of favourable publicity."

That publicity included the recent visit of actor Brian Blessed, in his role as the president of the Council For National Parks.

Figures for the number of people visiting the museum shop give a fairly accurate figure for the number visiting Hutton-le-Hole itself. That figure is "down quite strikingly" Martin said.

"It's not as bad as it could have been. The last month has been very much better." But he added that tourist businesses would only be able to count the full cost come September.

That such well-known, award-winning attractions and institutions are struggling is worrying. Lower profile tourist businesses, without the same track record to lean on or reserves to plunder, will be finding life doubly hard.

Hope springs eternal, of course, and we end on a note of optimism. David and Kathy Ward run Gales House Farm, at Gillamoor, near Kirkbymoorside, winner of the Yorkshire Holiday Cottages of the Year in 1999. Theirs is a small business, letting just three cottages.

Nevertheless, they have been fully booked for the last couple of months, September is already filling up and they are full at Christmas.

How have they done it? "Business doesn't just come to you. You've got to work for it," said David. "The work we put into marketing just paid off."

Repeat business, from the 12 years they have run Gales House, has been a mainstay.

But they also attract new guests from a variety of sources, including press advertising and the Internet.

People have rung up with last-minute bookings, expecting to find them empty, and are taken aback to find that's not the case, said David.

"We feel a bit embarrassed at times when people ask us about the business because I know people are suffering."

Updated: 10:35 Thursday, August 09, 2001