NEIGHBOURS say a popular pub in County Durham is producing a “rancid” smell that is blighting their lives.

Toronto Lodge, in Toronto, near Bishop Auckland, opened earlier this year and residents living either side lodged a complaint about the odours coming from the kitchen in June.

According to Terry Earl, there has been a pub or restaurant on the site for more than three decades but they have never encountered any issues with the smell.

The Northern Echo: IMPACT: Toronto Lodge is the subject of complaints over its kitchen smell Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Toronto Lodge is the subject of complaints over its kitchen smell Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

An abatement notice was served to the Tavistock Hospitality-run business in October and despite action from the organisation, neighbours claim the smell remains.

Mr Earl, 67, who lives next to Toronto Lodge, said: “The business opened on March 17 and it’s been a problem from the very beginning.

“Toronto Lodge has been a restaurant since 1979 and this is the first time we have ever had a problem with the smell.

“Whatever they have in there is totally inadequate. It (the smell) gags your throat. It’s a rancid fat smell.”

Mr Earl and the pub’s other neighbour, farmer Colin Skidmore, say they do not want to “cause any ill feeling” but claim the smell is having a huge impact on their daily lives. I’ve had delivery drivers who have refused to come in the house because of the smell from the pub,” added Mr Earl, who has lived there for almost 40 years. A lad doing work on the greenhouse stopped because you can’t breathe for the smell and we can’t open the doors or windows in the summer months for the stench.”

An extractor fan from the pub’s kitchen hangs over Mr Skidmore’s farmyard.

He told The Northern Echo he had had to move silage bags from the pub wall where fat appears to have run down in brown streams from where the fan cover is attached.

“It can’t be good for you,” said Mr Skidmore. “It’s like living next to a barbecue. You can go in the house and your clothes stink of it. It can’t be good for the animals.”

The farmer said it was also affecting his business after sheep shearers left the job “due to the smell”.

In November Tavistock Hospitality told neighbours it had spent £3,000 on an ozone diffuser, aimed at neutralising the smell.

Operations director, Jonathan Graham, said: “That was the first thing we did after speaking to experts. We then spoke to environmental health and they said that wasn’t sufficient. They said we would need to increase the size of the flue.

“So we didn’t affect our neighbours, we were told we would need planning permission and we have told them that. We are working with Durham County Council to come up with a reasonable solution as quickly as possible. If it (permission) was granted tomorrow we would have it fixed tomorrow.”

Durham County Council said it would visit the premises when the abatement notice expired.