AN online travel agent has seen a 160 percent increase in the number of searches for Barnard Castle after it emerged Dominic Cummings visited during lockdown.

Hotels.com said it had reported a surge in the number of people looking to book a short stay in the town following the fallout from Mr Cummings' claims earlier this week.

Last night, Durham Police confirmed they would taking 'no further action' over Mr Cummings' trip from London to the North-East in March - but said he may have 'breached' regulations.                      

On Friday, revealing the bump in searches for Barnard Castle, the online travel agent said between May 22 and May 27 they had seen the 160 percent increase in searches compared with the previous week.

A spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister's chief advisor has certainly piqued the nation’s interest in the 12th Century stone castle, situated just 30 minutes from Durham, following his visit during lockdown which recently made national headlines and taken Twitter by storm.

"This (surge in searches) can likely be attributed to the stories surrounding Mr Cummings' visit that broke in UK media on 22nd May 2020."

Following Mr Cummings' visit, BrewDog last night unveiled a limited edition drink in response to the Dominic Cummings controversy - a beer named the 'Barnard Castle eye test'.

In a statement, the brewer said: “The people have spoken. So, we decided to actually do it. Our limited edition beer is available now for pre-sale.

“All proceeds will go to funding our production of free sanitiser for the NHS & Health care charities.”