A popular North Yorkshire pub has been forced to close its doors for good with owners blaming the council’s lack of support during Covid-19.
Whitby’s Michelin-listed Star Inn the Harbour will close for the final time on November 12.
The much-loved venue is part of the Star Group of Restaurants which includes the Michelin star-listed The Star at Harome, The Star Inn the City and The Winter Hutte, York.
Restauranteur, Andrew Pern, has blamed Scarborough Borough Council for the closure, touting the “utter lack of support” during the pandemic.
Mr Pern said it was with “great sadness and a heavy heart that we have decided to close The Star Inn the Harbour.”
Speaking on the lack of support during Covid, Mr Pern said: "The most damaging and miserable fact that marks their card is that they took rent from us and most other businesses in the town during lockdown when we didn't have a penny coming in - how greedy and shortsighted is that in a place which relies heavily on tourism and hospitality?”
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"We should not really have been surprised by their lack of support as we tried to work, albeit unsuccessfully, with Scarborough Borough Council from when we first started developing The Star Inn the Harbour in 2016 and then from the day we opened the restaurant.”
Mr Pern argued that it had been “a continuous battle as all the positive factors that swayed us to be involved initially have never come to fruition.”
He added: “If anything they have damaged our chances of survival rather than encouraged them, and, coming into winter and with the council's decision to not help us in anyway, we will bring this Whitby chapter to a close for the time being."
The owners continued thanked customers for their “support” and also thanked “all the fantastic staff.”
He said: “Mike and I would like to thank everyone who has supported us and all the fantastic staff who have done a brilliant job over the years - it has been a pleasure to work alongside them all, so much so that each and everyone of them have been offered employment at the Michelin starred The Star Inn at Harome, The Star Inn the City and The Winter Hütte, York.
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The Star Inn at Harome, which was ravaged by a fire that left it closed for a year, is due to fully re-open at the end of November.
The Winter Hutte, a pop-up two-storey Swiss-style chalet in York city centre, is due to open on November 17.
A spokesperson for Scarborough Borough Council said: “We are sad to hear about the decision to close the Star Inn the Harbour in Whitby but to blame it on us is unfair.
“We have been working closely with the restaurant for several months to ensure it can continue to trade during difficult times.
“At the restaurant’s request we renegotiated the terms of its tenancy. Those terms were agreed in good faith but the restaurant recently walked away.
“Our local support for the restaurant has been in addition to the national help it was eligible for such as Covid grants and the government furlough scheme.
“As the custodian of public money, there will always be a limit to the help we can provide to individual businesses. “
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