Plans have been submitted to convert the Half Moon pub in Sharow, near Ripon, into a four-bedroom home.
The village pub and restaurant, on Sharow Lane, opened in 1822 and closed four years ago.
Owner Mark Fitton was, until recently, advertising for a tenant to take on the pub.
He has now submitted plans to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the premises.
A planning statement attached to the application claims three separate couples have run the pub in recent years but all suffered insolvency due to “a lack of custom”.
It reads:
“For at least 20 years everyone who has tried to run the Half Moon as a hospitality venue has found it to be extremely difficult.
“Since 2009 various people have tried to run it as a village pub or a high-quality restaurant, but all have failed due to a lack of custom.
“Three separate couples have, over the past 12 years, suffered insolvency as a result of trying to run the Half Moon as a commercial venture; none has managed to last beyond two years.”
Read more:
Speaking to the Stray Ferret, Sharow Parish Council clerk Nick Reed said the planning application was unpopular with villagers, and the parish council would submit a formal objection letter in the coming days.
The parish council previously said it was hoping to register the building as an asset of community value in the hope that it could re-open as a pub.
However, Mr Reed said Harrogate Borough Council has asked for more evidence if its bid is to be successful.
He said:
“They told us it would be unlikely to be granted in its current state, so we have been going around the village asking people what the pub means to people, what it could be in the future and what we are missing by not having it.”
Villagers in Sharow were encouraged last year when residents in Kirkby Malzeard raised more than £200,000 in a bid to prevent residential redevelopment of a site occupied by The Henry Jenkins Inn.
However, the campaign was dealt a hammer blow last month when The Planning Inspectorate, a government agency that deals with planning appeals, overturned Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for conversion of the eastern part of the site into a single dwelling.
