Addingham landlady Maria Wells has achieved her long-held ambition to buy the freehold of the pub she had run for the past decade.

She now plans to refurbish the bar area of the traditional Crown Inn on Main Street and also refresh and extend the bed and breakfast facilities to three rooms.

As an independent operator she is keen to develop relationships with local breweries.

Maria has used a six-figure loan from Natwest bank to fund the acquisition and improvements.

The finance was made available through the Government-backed Funding for Lending programme after Maria approached Elizabeth Smith, relationship manager at NatWest’s Bradford and Harrogate office, who also arranged a VAT loan to minimise the impact of the purchase on the pub’s cash-flow.