AN HISTORIC Holme Valley pub is to be turned into flats.

The Royal Oak at Thongsbridge will call time on more than 200 years of hospitality after Kirklees Council approved plans to turn it into flats.

Seven flats will replace the popular pub - on the junction of the main Huddersfield Road and Thong Lane - in a building dating back to 1780.

The pub is expected to close at the end of this month.

Owner Jeremy Tunnacliffe lives overseas and has leased the pub via a company to managers Carole and Philip Price since last March.

Mrs Price said: "It's a place where there's always been a lot going on.

"It's also a popular venue for wedding receptions and the regular meeting place of the Vocal Expressions women's choir," she added.