A POTENTIAL buyer has come forward to save a community’s pub from being turned into holiday cottages after reading an article in the East Anglian Daily Times.

On Thursday the EADT reported how villagers in Great Glemham, near Framlingham, had come together to campaign to save The Crown.

The pub has been closed since August last year and is currently in the hands of property investment and private equity firm Bridport Capital Limited which wants to convert it into holiday cottages.

But, director Keith Stout said he would give the community an opportunity to club together and buy the former pub for �350,000.

Now, after reading the article, Thane Meldrum and his partner Emma Harrington, from near Bungay, have expressed their interest in purchasing it.

Mr Meldrum, who is a long-standing member of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), said he thought it was “quite a principled thing to try and keep these places open”.

He said: “Pubs are part of our heritage as they say. They are amenities for the village and meeting places and all the rest of it.”

Mr Meldrum, who is self-employed working in antiques restoration, said they had not yet made an offer for the property, adding how they were arranging a viewing.

He has been a pub-goer at The Crown, but he said he was yet to view all the rooms and buildings.

It is understood that as well as the former pub building, there is a cottage and a barn.

Bill Philpot, who is one of those campaigning to save the The Crown, said he was hopeful the potential buyer would secure the pub’s future.

But he added if it fell through, the community would continue trying to find a means to buy the pub.

He said: “It was one of the most popular pubs in the area for quite a wide area.”

He added: “Without the pub there is no village really.”

Mr Stout said in last week’s article that an offer from the community would have to be imminent. Last night he was unavailable for comment.