VILLAGERS are fighting to save their local pub from being closed and converted into a house.

The owners of the Ship Inn at Port Mulgrave, on the coast near Whitby, say the pub is no longer viable and their attempts to sell it as a going concern have failed.

They have now submitted an application to the North York Moors National park's planning committee to turn it into a house.

But 69 people have signed a petition opposing the move and others have submitted letters of objection.

Among them is Hinderwell Parish Council, which says it objects "in the most strenuous terms".

Its spokesman said: "Port Mulgrave is a small hamlet and the Ship Inn is the only public venue in the locality. To lose it would be very detrimental to the community in terms of loss of amenity, employment and economic growth and social well-being."

The Campaign for Real Ale has also joined the protests.

"People would have nowhere to meet one another informally," said a spokesman for the Cleveland branch.

Other objectors say the pub is one of the few stopping places for walkers on the Cleveland Way, that it is the only meeting place in the village and that it has been a pub for many decades.

Landlords John and Laura Watson took over the running of the pub in August 2004 and have declined to comment on the objections.

However, in the report to the committee applicants LCW Ltd say due to the lack of customers the brewery has called in its loan and "the situation is now so serious that the pub can no longer trade as a commercial property". They also say that, as the pub no longer has staff, no one will be left unemployed by the change.

Councillors will discuss the proposal next week and are being recommended to refuse the application. "The loss of the public house would harm the economic and social well-being of the local community," said chief planning officer Val Dilcock.