The managing director of a restaurant group in Cumbria spoke on Jeremy Vine's show about they maintain staff in the county.

The issue of attracting and keeping staff, particularly in the hospitality sector, has been at the forefront of debates amid the high cost of living in the Lake District.

UMBEL is a restaurant group that are based in the UK and Hong Kong. Their main restaurant brand is Simon Rogan, with the flagship restaurant being L'Enclume in Cartmel. The restaurants specialise in fine dining. 

Sam Ward, MD for UMBEL, said on the BBC Radio 2 show: "We always help with when they relocate to the Lake District by subsidising their move to the area.

"We have bought five properties to allow people to relocate here for people that are starting their career until they find a promotion.

"We're not trying to make money out of our team - we're trying to make sure they have somewhere to live."  

Mr Ward said it was hard for workers to find properties to rent in the area as most landlords in Cumbria want to reserve their properties for holiday lets. 

The average property price in Cumbria is £198,000 and the average rent is £698 per calendar month.