WHEN last we visited Barningham, that delightful village on the Durham/North Yorkshire border south of Barnard Castle, it was the local hedgehog population that was deemed to be endangered. Hence the novel road signs indicated a slow-go area.

Now, two months later, it’s the 200-year-old village pub that’s said to be at risk – prompting concern from the Georgian Society, the Campaign for Real Ale and the parish meeting.

Camra’s particularly worried because the Milbank Arms is one of just eight pubs in Britain without a bar. “The pub we all love will be lost forever,” says a piece in the Darlington branch magazine, though estate owner Sir Edward Milbank insists that – save for the addition of a bar – the real ale men are going to love it.

The pub, a Grade II-listed building, closed at the end of March after being run by the Turner family since 1939. Retiring tenant Neil Turner, 83, has moved elsewhere in the village.

Neil was particularly noted for his cocktails, dispensed from a little cellar cubby hole at the foot of a short flight of steps and, like the beer, brought from below on a Charles and Diana tray.

Though the pub will undergo major improvements, Sir Edward insists that the little cubby hole is one of many features which will remain when the Milbank reopens, probably in the middle of next year. “We hope to have six or eight seats down there,” he says.

After Durham County Council approved the plans, the Milbank estate is now seeking grants in recognition of the anticipated impact on local jobs and tourism. Though extra letting rooms may eventually be added at the back, the front will change little.

“We’ve also found a lot of pub and village history which will be going on show. In an ideal world we wouldn’t have to make changes, but that there are only eight pubs in the country without a bar tells a story in itself,” says Sir Edward.

“We’re delighted that planning permission has been granted because only a very limited amount of work has been done in the past 200 years and a lot needs to be renewed. We wouldn’t have been able to get a tenant after Neil left.

“In some ways very little will change. I’m sure it will be a pub that Camra will love.”

Barningham parish meeting chairman Jon Smith says that he regrets the loss of part of the pub’s character by the gain of a bar. “That said, I understand that the plans are generally very sympathetic. I look forward to a pint next year.”