Last updated 19:38, Thursday, 15 May 2008

BUSINESSMAN Mark Weir invested £100,000 in facilities at his slate mine – thanks to interest stirred up by television exposure in shows like Coronation Street and Trinny and Susannah.

Now the star of one TV series has praised the entrepreneur, who turned a shut down mine into a thriving operation.

Griff Rhys Jones, presenter of the BBC Mountain series, said Mr Weir had saved Honister slate mine from certain extinction and it was now the last of its kind in England.

The series, which sees the quick witted television personality spending five weeks exploring Great Britain’s highest summits, has proved so popular that the BBC is repeating it for a third time and in prime time slot.

The Lake District episode – episode two in the five part series – was shown on Wednesday at 7pm on BBC2. It was first broadcast in August 2007 then repeated again in October.

Griff met Mr Weir, who runs Honister Slate Mine and England’s highest tourist attraction – the Via Ferrata, a daring scramble up Fleetwith Pike over 2,000ft over the head of Buttermere.

He said: “Many of the elements of the industrial revolution began in the Lake District in terms of mining, but quickly moved on because of the inaccessibility of the region.

“I visited Honister Slate Mine, which was reopened in 1996 by Mark Weir.

“Mark's grandfather had once worked there and Mark has now turned it into a thriving business.

“After seeing the success of Honister and the disused slate mines in Wales, I am slightly shocked that we now import slate from China and Portugal and leave these great mines closed.”

Mr Weir said that each time the episode is repeated it prompts a rise in the number of telephone calls the mine receives from prospective visitors, as well as thousands of hits on its website.

Mr Weir said: “Of all the television programmes we took part in during 2007, the Mountain series has been far by the most popular.

“It has really opened people’s eyes to how spectacular this part of the Lake District is. “Whenever it is shown we have people ringing up in their dozens all week wanting to come and visit, or going on to the website to find out about the Via Ferrata.”

Due to the national exposure the mine received during 2007 - when it was also featured on Trinny and Susannah, Coronation Street, BBC Countryfile and the Wainwright Walks series - Mr Weir has invested over £100,000 in an upgrade of Honister’s facilities for visitors.

It now has a Sky Hi Café where people can buy home cooked food and drinks, toilets along with a new shopping area.