Yorkshire Dales hotelier plans landmark upgrade (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Yorkshire Dales hotelier plans landmark upgrade

8:00am Thursday 8th April 2010 in Hawes news

THE owner of a landmark Dales inn is seeking consent to have a large 1970s hotel extension demolished.

Mark Thompson, who has run The Green Dragon at Hardraw, near Hawes, since 2001, has spent six years working on plans to rid the hotel of its ‘inappropriate’ 16-bed annexe and replace it with something in-keeping with the original inn.

A final design has now been worked out and plans submitted to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

If approved, it will be the latest phase in a long-running programme of invest-ment by Mr Thompson.

In recent years he has restored The Green Dragon’s interior to how it would have looked in Georgian times and created a heritage centre for the inn’s main attraction, Hardraw Force falls.

Mr Thompson, a renowned Dales artist, has also restored footpaths to the 100-foot waterfall.

He said: “Having known The Green Dragon for most of my life, I have always been of the opinion the modern hotel and apartment sections added in the early 1970s were out of keeping with the Dales environment.”

He said that plans included replacing the 16-bed hotel, function room and apartment block with a building in local Dales stone to match local buildings.

There would be a new kitchen and toilets, a dining area, lounge bar and reception, together with eight bedrooms.

Mr Thompson added: “The apartments will also be replaced by six suites with the emphasis on individuality.

"Phase one could start in the autumn.”