YHA closes hostels to balance its books

Ten youth hostels in some of Britain's most outstanding areas of natural beauty are to close because of losses incurred during last year's foot-and-mouth crisis.

The 72-year-old Youth Hostel Association (YHA), which has described the epidemic as its "worst disaster since the war", said two months ago it could not afford the £5m deficit racked up last year.

The closures announced yesterday affect hostels as far afield as the North Downs and the Yorkshire Dales and include a 17th-century Yorkshire rectory, the sale of which will help other refurbishments.

Those to be closed, selected from a shortlist of 24 compiled from an audit of the YHA's 230-strong nationwide network, are generally in need of costly upgrades or in areas of declining visitor numbers. They will operate for one last season.

The YHA, which takes an annual revenue of £30m from 2.1 million visitors and ploughs its £2m surplus back into hostels, has become a bastion of the rambling movement since it was established in 1930.

The organisation has raised through its members a £250,000 emergency appeal fund, almost matching the sum received from government business recovery funds, for which hostels have had to apply individually. But only the temporary closure of more than 100 hostels during the crisis, saving £10m, prevented more drastic action.

The oldest to be lost is a 56-bedroom, converted Victorian house in Buxton, Derbyshire, which has been receiving visitors for 62 years. "It is a desperately sad blow to us all – staff, community, members and supporters," a spokesman said.