Neil Morrissey gives up the Punch Bowl

Celebrity publicans and brewers Neil Morrissey and Richard Fox have given up the pub made famous in their Channel 4 TV series last year.

The lease on Ye Olde Punch Bowl Inn in Marton-Cum-Grafton has now been handed back to the private freeholder just 18 months after it was opened in a blaze of publicity.

But the pair are refusing to give up on the pub industry and are now looking for freehouses in the Yorkshire area.

Fox said: "It seems for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: we create a fabulous, successful beer with sales on the up-and-up with loads more to come; and we have to close a pub, and join that ever increasing list of sad statistics," he said

"On the plus side, we did regenerate what was a very tired establishment facing imminent closure and manage to give it one hell of a make-over and breathe another year and a half of life into it.

"It's a shame our other work commitments didn't allow us to give it the extra attention we should have given it to help battle through such difficult circumstances."

Fox said he would like to thank all the customers, staff and team who have supported the business.