Britain's highest pub the Tan Hill Inn facing £100,000-a-year bill hike in cost of living crisis

The owners of Britain's highest pub say they are facing bills of an extra £100,000 a year due to the cost of living crisis.

The Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales sits 1,732 feet above sea level and is off-grid, meaning it is powered by a diesel-fuelled generator.

Co-owner Andrew Hields said the pub, which gained international fame when it hosted an unscheduled lock-in for 61 guests trapped due to Storm Arwen, uses around 50,000 litres of fuel a year.

"That, coupled with rising gas prices and the cost of living, could mean we spend an extra £100,000 this year," he said.

"After the last two years we've had with Covid, it's very difficult."

As a result, Mr Hields said they could have to increase the cost of a pint by between 5p and 10p and meals by 25p.

"It's not what we'd choose to do, but with costs rising as much as they are, we'd really struggle without making adjustments," he said.

In a Facebook post, the pub wrote: "Life at the highest and possibly the most isolated pub in the British Isles has just got a lot more difficult".

But it added staff would "battle to survive, come what may".

It comes as people whose homes are heated by domestic oil instead of gas are also facing three-fold increases in their fuel bills in recent months which they say are unaffordable.

Many villages in rural parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have no gas supply to the properties and are instead dependent on oil-fired boilers for their heating and hot water supply.

The price per litre of domestic heating oil is rising by up to 10p per day, leading to shortages as customers try to beat the bill increase.