A LECTURE room could be built at a popular pub and tourist destination.

The Twice Brewed Inn at Bardon Mill near Hexham submitted a planning application to Northumberland National Park Authority to build a lecture room as a support facility for its new Planetarium and Observatory.

The room would complement the business' stargazing events at both the Observatory and the Planetarium and offer seating for 55 people.

The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre, next to the Twice Brewed Inn, expressed interest in sharing the facility to complement its own educational and visitor programmes.

The design and access statement submitted with the application said: "The public benefits of the scheme are considered to be wide-ranging in this instance and are largely attributable to the economic benefits that would arise from providing an additional visitor attraction at this location that complements its stargazing events.

"The relationship of the Twice Brewed Inn site with the immediately adjacent National Landscape Discovery Centre also cannot be underestimated with this cluster of development acting as an important tourism and visitor destination in an otherwise entirely rural area.

"The provision of additional visitor attractions for the Twice Brewed Inn would help to support the existing business and increase expenditure in the visitor economy in the National Park."

The statement said the lecture room would secure the future of The Twice Brewed as a business, in both sustainability and flexibility and would encourage visitors to extend their stays in the area.

"Fundamentally, the lecture room would provide further opportunities for individuals to enjoy the special scenic qualities of the National Park and being a single unit of accommodation it is considered to be of an appropriate scale to be able to support the economy of the National Park without detracting from its inherent beauty.

"Supporting the local economy in response to the impact of the recent and ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is critical in rural locations such as this. Businesses require a degree of flexibility to expand their customer offer to assist in their financial recovery, particularly in the hospitality and tourism industries."

The proposed lecture room was said to be an appropriate scale of development for the business' growth.