A BATTLE is raging over plans to demolish an old village pub and build four new homes on the site.

Campaigners claim the pub has been deliberately run down so the site can be redeveloped.

But the owner, businessman David Fielder, denies that – and insists the pub, which he bought when it was already closed, is simply no longer viable.

The old inn, at Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, is named after a celebrated North Yorkshire supercentenarian, Henry Jenkins, who supposedly lived to the age of 169 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

It was bought in 2012 by Mr Fielder, after it had already been closed for a year, and his original intention was to lease it out as a going concern.

However, after failing to find anyone to take it on, he now wants to knock it down and build four houses on the site, and a planning decision could be made next month.

Locals claim that more than 80 people have registered objections with Harrogate Borough Council and say nearly 150 residents have signed a petition calling for the pub to be saved.

A spokesman for the Save the Henry Jenkins campaign, Richard Sadler said: “It was a much-loved pub and eating place that has been a hub of the local community for generations. It was also popular with walkers, cyclists and other tourists.

“A lot of people in the village are angry that someone from outside the area has allowed it to fall into a run-down state – and is now using this as an excuse to pull it down.

“We believe that with the right investment and proper management the Henry Jenkins could thrive as a pub and restaurant again - and, if there was a community buy-out, it could also provide a range of new, much-needed services.”

However Mr Fielder insisted he had made every effort to lease it as a going concern, said he has had only two viewings – and denied claims that offers had been made.

He pointed out that of his portfolio of 12 pubs, seven had been bought when closed and all, with the exception of the Henry Jenkins, were now operating again successfully.

“We genuinely thought we could revive this pub but it hasn’t proved possible. It was the parish council who suggested we redevelop the site,” he said.

He claimed it would now cost up to £200,000 to properly restore the building, which had already cost him £225,000 in purchase and other costs.

The village has one other surviving pub, the Queen’s Head, and five others within three-and-a-half miles.

The Henry Jenkins is the last of several pubs which were named after a one-time thatcher, salmon fisherman and butler who died at the improbable old age of 169 in 1670, and is buried at Bolton-on-Swale.