HOPES that a moorland village could be re-opened have been given a big boost.

The 300-year-old Plough Inn at Fadmoor, near Kirkbymoorside , has been closed for more than two years, after its owner, millionaire Peter Wilkinson said it was costing £35,000 a year to keep it open.

But now Mr Wilkinson says he hopes to re-open The Plough once he completes a multi-thousand pound improvement scheme at another of his businesses, the Royal Oak pub in the nearby village of Gillamoor.

He is renovating its eight letting bedrooms, and creating what he believes could be the first pub in North Yorkshire to run on biomass fuel.

Mr Wilkinson, who lives at Sleightholmedale, near Helmsley , said: “I am currently spending a lot of money on the Royal Oak,” adding that once the renovation work is completed he hopes The Plough could be operating once again, but probably just for the holiday season from April to September when there was more business available due to the tourist industry.

Mr Wilkinson said The Plough was no longer on the market – it had been for sale with an asking price of £450,000 – but it needs some £50,000 spending on it, including work on the roof and heating system.

The renovation of The Royal Oak would pay dividends, believed Mr Wilkinson, because its biomass system would enable it to be “wonderfully warm” even in the depths of winter.

Gerry McMahon, one of the leaders of the Fadmoor community which has been campaigning for The Plough to open its doors again, said he welcomed Mr Wilkinson’s news.

He said: “We hoped that eventually we could buy The Plough as a community pub. We did make a bid but it was not accepted. But the news that it could reopen in the spring and summer is a step in the right direction.”

He added that if Mr Wilkinson’s aspirations for The Plough did not materialise, the community offer to buy it would still stand, and he hoped a round-the-table meeting could be held with him to explore the pub’s future.

“We would like to see an amicable solution because the pub is a valuable community asset,” said Mr McMahon.