THE owners of a family-run 17th century inn have been left devastated after huge amounts of heating oil leaked into it from a nearby property, forcing it to close for up to a year.

Debbie and Clive Di Giorgio, licensees of The Three Tuns in Osmotherley, near Northallerton, had only just recovered from another, almost identical incident ten months ago, when they discovered a foot and a half of kerosene in the cellar of the pub, 30-cover restaurant and bed and breakfast business.

They have been told the problem in the grade II listed property on the edge of the North York Moors National Park is so severe the clean-up operation could take until earlier next year.

Mrs Di Giorgio said when she began to smell what she thought was oil in February this year, she had assumed it was a residual smell from the earlier incident in which oil had flowed into the cellar from another neighbouring property.

This time the oil leak came from another property in Osmotherley.

The discovery in March prompted the immediate closure of the pub, as an extensive, specialist clean-up operation was required to remove all the oil.

Now the family has been warned it could be early next year before they can relaunch their enterprise in South End. The business, which has been awarded four stars by the AA, supports the couple, their daughter and her boyfriend and has left them all without a job until the problem is resolved.

“It’s costing us thousands; the timing couldn’t be worse because this year we were fully booked from May to September,” said Mrs Di Giorgio, who has been working round the clock to find alternative accommodation for her guests at other hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation in North Yorkshire.

She continued: “This was all set to be out biggest year.

“We had guests who had booked from America, who were coming over on walking trips.

“They had booked 27, two-night stays between May and September.

“We’ve lost them all. We also had three weddings who were having a before-the-night function here, so that’s been ruined too. They have all managed to relocate, but it has been horrendous because they were all booked in advance.”

The oil leak initially had to be treated as a serious incident by the Environment Agency, fire service and Yorkshire Water, who worked to ensure the oil did not contaminate local waterways.

Now it is in the hands of a specialist cleaning company.

To remove all of the heating oil, the floor of the restaurant has been removed up to a metre’s depth, along with plastering and hand-made wooden panelling which runs the length of the Rennie Macintosh-inspired dining room.

Underneath the floor a drain has to be reinstated and oil also needs to be removed from within the walls of the building.

“It’s been absolutely horrendous,” said Debbie.

“It’s been soul-destroying coming into the pub and seeing all our hard work undone.”