AN Allerford businessman has hit out at National Trust plans to close the village's only public toilet, fearing it could have a devastating impact on passing trade.

Kyle Roberts of Allerford Forge said he had not been consulted on the closure and the first he knew was when he received a letter from the trust telling him the conveniences would be shut on January 2.

He said people stopping off to use the toilets often called in to the forge and the local shop as, unlike the businesses, the toilets were signposted from the main road.

"We rely on people calling in and get an awful lot of passing traffic from people coming in to the village to use the toilets, Mr Roberts said.

"We had hoped to team up with the West Somerset Rural Life Museum in Allerford to allow visiting parties of schoolchildren to call in to the forge as well, but I just don't see how we're going to be able to do that now."

The forge, which dates back to the 17th century, is part of the trust's Holnicote Estate and was taken on by Mr Roberts in 2010.

He now employs a team of six blacksmiths and metalworkers, plus an apprentice, who work on projects both locally and across the country.

Their most high profile projects have included the regeneration of the grounds of Kensington Palace, and closer to home, they worked on the Rose Gate restoration in Porlock.

Mr Roberts recently converted an office area in the forge into a gallery space to encourage more visitors to call in to both the forge and Allerford itself.

"This is a real kick in the teeth for us as we thought we were doing something good by creating a gallery, but I'm not sure that's going to be sustainable now, especially as we will have six guys here and only one small toilet once the public ones are closed," he said.

"I think it's an absolutely travesty that we didn't know anything about this until we got a letter from the National Trust dated December 13 telling us how great it was that toilets in Horner and Bossington would remain open but Allerford's would be closed permanently.

"There's a car park in the village and lots of people use it as a base to start walks, so I can see it being a huge problem once they're gone."

In a statement, the National Trust confirmed the public toilets in Allerford would be closed in January.

A spokesman said both trustees at the West Somerset Rural Life Museum and members of Selworthy and Minehead Without Parish Council had been consulted about the trust's plans.

Andy Mayled, National Trust general manager for the Somerset countryside, said: "I sympathise, however, the toilet block is being completely removed as part of the Allerford Reading Room redevelopment, so the toilets would have closed sometime in the first half of 2013 for the building work to begin."

The Reading Room provides a base for a range of clubs and organisations and the redevelopment will enable a full-size skittle alley to be created.

"We're not against the Reading Room in any way and understand that they need to develop to be able to keep going, but it would have been nice to have been consulted by the National Trust to see if a compromise could have been found," Mr Roberts said.

Traditionally, the toilets had been run by Exmoor National Park Authority on lease from the trust at a cost of around £6,000 a year.

An additional £2,000 also needed to be spent on "minor work" and to make them disabled-friendly.