THE owners of one of the region’s most renowned pub-restaurants have angrily denied rumours that they are selling their business to a TV celebrity.

They say the stories are "damaging and totally unfounded" and are threatening their business - the Michelin-starred Star Inn at Harome, near Helmsley.

Andrew and Jacquie Pern have run the multi-award winning for the past 14 years and recently announced they were splitting up after being married for the same length of time.

And they believe their separation may have sparked the persistent rumours that they are selling up.

"We are totally fed up with hearing the most outlandish stories about our beloved Star," said Jacquie.

"We keep hearing that we are selling up to a celebrity chef, sometimes it’s Gordon Ramsey and sometimes it’s James Martin."

She added: "These rumours are totally unfounded and complete nonsense. They are also very upsetting and damaging.

"We have put our heart and soul into the Star and we are not going to abandon it now. Also, if people think we are leaving, they might feel our standards would slip. Nothing could be further from the case."

She said that as a couple they had had an "amicable parting of the ways" but were still totally committed to working with each other.

"We have an excellent business relationship and we are hardly going to throw everything we have worked away for just because we are no longer together personally," she said.

Andrew added: "My aim is to make the Star the first two-starred Michelin pub in the world and nothing will deflect me from that."

The Perns also own the Corner Shop and the Pheasant Inn in Harome and Perns delicatessen, butchers and wine merchants, in Helmsley’s Market Place, together with the fishmongers, Star Fish, next door. Altogether they now employ 120 people.

"Employing that number of staff is a huge responsibility," said Andrew.

"To secure everyone’s future, we have just invested £750,000 in extending and upgrading the Star and we have also renovated and extended Perns and opened Star Fish. That doesn’t suggest we are selling up, does it?"

Chef Andrew and The Star have won a string of awards, apart from the coveted Michelin Star, since the Perns took over the pub 1996.

The awards include the Northern Hospitality Awards Special Achievement Award last year, the No 1 UK Gastropub Chef and the Yorkshire Life Chef of the Year in 2008, the Egon Ronay Gastropub of the Year and Northern Chef of the Year in 2006 and the Good Food Guide Inn of the Year in 2005.