The Dartmoor hotel where Arthur Conan Doyle reportedly wrote ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is to be closed as a visitor centre but not before a final attempt at making it viable is explored.
Dartmoor National Park Authority’s centre at Princetown has been under threat for two years because of lack of funds.
Its proposals to close the venue is down to “financial necessity” said DNPA’s chief executive Dr Kevin Bishop, but it is “with a heavy heart”.
Park authority members agreed to hold off shutting the doors until October after hearing pleas from the business community and parish councillors who said it is essential to bring visitors to the area.
They claim it is “ripe for monetisation” being the gateway to the moor and the location where Mr Doyle based his famous Sherlock Holmes story in 1901.
Some £50,000 from DNPA’s reserves will be used to keep the centre open, but members were warned that demands on reserves are high as the authority faces a deficit of more than £500,000 this year.
The visitor centre is run in the Duchy Hotel building which is leased for £100 a year to DNPA, but the authority is responsible for repairs, maintenance and insurance.
A one-off grant of £440,000 from the government two year ago allowed the facility to stay open after the closure was first raised in 2022, but the authority has faced a 55 per cent cut in its grant from the Department for Environemnt, Food and Rural Affairs since 2011.
Authority members said they had no idea what their funding would be for the next financial year but they were “not optimistic”
Local guest house owner Caroline Wain said the community needs to be given time to explore options for the building.
She said it is the largest of Dartmoor National Park Authority’s three visitor centres – the others are at Haytor and Postbridge – and closing its flagship venue would be “a negative message to visitors”.
“The loss of this community and business space would further isolate Princetown creating a sense of decline,” she said.
She said the community is already suffering from the uncertainty over the future of Dartmoor Prison and its museum.
Local artist Nick Bennett said people would pay a lot of money to stay in a room where Conan Doyle wrote his famous novel.
He said it was time for DNPA, the Duchy of Cornwall and the local community to get together and do something with the “beautiful building” which could make a significant difference to the top end of Princetown.
Dartmoor Forest Parish councillor Alison Geen said to shut the visitor centre was to “close the door on opportunity, the community and the future of Princetown”.
She said it is crucial to tourism, could be supported by a Friends’ organisation and by hosting more exhibitions, and that postponing the closure would allow for DNPA talks with national parks minister Mary Creagh.
Dr Kevin Bishop said the number of visitors had not returned since the coronavirus >covid years and attempts to bring more funding had failed.
He said moves to charge for exhibitions had been unpopular and ideas to run a cafe or restaurant had not been supported by the landlord because of fears it would take money away from other local businesses.
DNPA member Philip Sanders was disappointed that the closure had been in the public domain for two years but no one from the community had come forward with ideas to save it until now.
Another member Peter Harper hoped that the “campaigning zeal” from the community would result in them writing to their MP and government ministers to highlight the state of national park funding.
He said help from the community is needed if the visitor centre is to stay open.
Members agreed that unless a viable plan came forward the centre will close in October.