The Duchy of Cornwall (DoC) was opposed to the opening of a cafe at the Princetown visitor centre, even though it could have generated income for the ill-fated facility, a new report shows.

The centre is set to close in October after the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) announced that it could not afford to maintain the old building or pay staff.

The Duchy, which owns both the building and the land, charges £100 a year in rent, but the DNPA has to pay all the centre’s maintenance costs.

According to the DNPA report, the board saw the cafe “as a way of generating income to help subsidise the cost of operating the visitor centre”, but the plans were dashed when the DoC claimed it could take trade away from existing local businesses.

Kevin Bishop, CE of the Dartmoor National Park Authority: "The nature of the lease is such that we couldn't develop a cafe or expand the retail offer without the Duchy’s approval"
Kevin Bishop, CE of the Dartmoor National Park Authority: "The nature of the lease is such that we couldn't develop a cafe or expand the retail offer without the Duchy’s approval" (Dartmoor National Park Authority)

Dr Kevin Bishop, the DNPA’s chief executive, told this paper: “The nature of the lease is such that we couldn't develop a cafe or expand the retail offer without the Duchy’s approval. They were not willing for us to do that because they were concerned it would take trade away from existing tenants within Princetown.”

Dr Bishop stressed that the DNPA had “a good relationship” with the DoC but did not share the Duchy’s view. “Potentially (a cafe) would expand the offer and you wouldn't see leakage from existing businesses,” he added.

Local businesses fear the centre’s closure will have a negative impact on Princetown as it could mean fewer visitors to the area, a view echoed by Dr Bishop and the local parish council, which said that it would cause a “catastrophic economic downturn”.

But while the DNPA is having to draw on reserves to keep the centre open, it has also emerged that the Duchy has been expanding operations within the building.

Dr Bishop said: “We occupy one room full-time and then use a couple of other rooms. We've tried to sublet the office space upstairs - there's only one tenant as such (the Dartmoor Preservation Association) - but the Duchy have expanded, and they asked to take back a couple of rooms.”

The Duchy pays pro-rata of the total costs for the rooms, he explained.

Visitor numbers at the centre have been steadily falling since before the 2020 COVID pandemic – down from 79,000 in 2018 to 48,449 last year - while an entrance charge was scrapped some time ago after it proved unpopular and failed to generate more income.

Among the last ditch proposals being considered is an option to hire volunteers to run the centre. The DNPA is also holding discussions with a third party over commercial opportunities, but Dr Bishop was unwilling to give further details at this stage.

In a separate development, The Times published an article at the weekend, revealing that the DoC is on course to receive millions of pounds from taxpayers for HMP Dartmoor, even though the prison has lain empty since last year, when 682 inmates were moved out after high levels of radon gas were detected.

The Duchy owns both the prison and the surrounding land, and under the terms of the lease contract it is not responsible for the upkeep of the prison, broadly mirroring the more modest Princetown visitor centre deal.

The Duchy of Cornwall has been asked to comment.