AN Eastby pub is reeling after being dealt a double whammy two years running.

Licensees Philip Lowther and Carole Wreford, moved to the Mason's Arms in February last year just three days before foot and mouth was announced.

Their pub, which relies a lot on the tourist trade, struggled to survive against the lack of visitors who provide the business' bread and butter.

This year the couple had begun to claw back some of the lost revenue - a task their bank said would take around seven years - when they discovered the county council was closing the road through Eastby for two weeks during the summer holidays.

This is traditionally the busiest time of year for all Dales pubs.

"The work which began yesterday (Thursday) is to install a traffic calming scheme and all traffic is being diverted through Burnsall - a round trip of around seven miles - because of a health and safety ruling, although locals will go via Bolton Abbey," said Miss Wreford.

"Apparently the road is too narrow to allow vehicles to go through while workmen are working."

Miss Wreford said it was ironic that all the traffic calming measures were for the benefit of Embsay, with Eastby's work being a couple of speed ramps placed in an area where there were no homes.

The effect of the road closed signs has been immediate and detrimental.

"We only served one bowl of soup all day last Friday. This is meant to be our prime trading time when we expect to earn the cash flow on the food and bed and breakfast side to get us through the slower winter months," said Miss Wreford.

The couple got in touch with the council, which admitted it did not know there was a pub in Eastby and as a compromise is allowing cars into the village at night when the contractors are not working.

Delivery vehicles to the pub as well as three milk tankers which go through Eastby daily will have to adhere to the diversion.

Mr Lowther added: "If it had been November when we can expect not to be very busy we would have put up with it. But carrying out work like this during our busiest time is ridiculous."

He said that when he asked an engineer why the work was being done now he said he did not know because a different department had organised the dates.

Brian Jobling, one of the county council's engineers dealing with the traffic calming, said there was always going to be some disruption whatever time of year the work was carried out, and doing it in the summer holidays avoided additional traffic such as school buses and parents taking children to school.

"It is always difficult to chose a time to carry out this sort of work, but I believe people will not find the interruption as inconvenient as they think it will be," he said.

Mr Jobling added that the work being carried out in Eastby included the provision of four stone sett strips across the road, anti skid areas and signs at the Barden Moor end of the village.