Addingham landlady Maria Wells has achieved her long-held ambition to buy the freehold of the pub she had run for the past decade.

She now plans refurbish the bar area of traditional The Crown Inn on Main Street and also refresh and extend the bed and breakfast facilities to three rooms. As an independent operator she is keen to develop relationships with local breweries so the pub can feature a local beer each month.

Maria has used a six-figure loan from Natwest bank to fund the acquisition and improvements. The finance was made available through the government-backed Funding for Lending programme after Maria approached Elizabeth Smith, relationship manager at NatWest’s Bradford and Harrogate office, who also to arranged a VAT loan to minimise the impact of the purchase on the pub’s cash-flow.

Maria said: “Investing in buying the freehold was a no-brainer for me as the mortgage is more affordable than my rent was previously. This really gives me the independence to ensure I can run the pub on my terms, and keep it very traditional, very local.”