A POPULAR village pub has closed after the couple who were running it moved away.
Ben Chambers and Gemma Paskin had spent about 18 months in charge of the Foresters Arms, in Middleton in Teesdale.
Hugh Becker, of Romaldkirk, one of the owners of the premises, said: "It is our intention to open the pub again as soon as possible, but are unable to say when that might be."
He said the couple had been running the Foresters on a lease and not as tenants.
Local residents said they were a friendly and popular couple who seemed to enjoy life in the village.
The Foresters has been one of the favourite drinking places in Middleton for more than a century.
Lead miners made it their first stopping place when they returned to the village from their mine lodging houses on Friday nights.
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