VILLAGERS hope the future of their closed pub can now be secured after operator Greene King announced it has been put on the market for sale as a pub.

Three hundred Troston residents had signed a petition calling on the pub operator to take action over the once thriving Bull, which closed about 10 months ago.

They have described the 200-year-old inn in the centre of the village as an “eyesore” which is putting off people moving to the village and is seriously affecting property prices.

Some residents have even taken it upon themselves to tidy up the area around the pub, which was one of the only village amenities.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Greene King said: “After liaising with the parish council, we can confirm that we have now put the Bull onto the market and for sale as a pub.

“We also hope to obtain planning consent to develop the land around the site, which will provide new homes and playing fields for the village.”

Resident Peter Hay, who organised the petition, said: “I would say that’s a major step forward if they have actually put the pub onto the market.

“I would like to see they have put a covenant on it so it cannot be bought by someone who wants to knock it down.”

He added: “It would just give us all that reassurance it can only be a pub.”

Mr Hay, who is also a parish councillor, said pubs were “very important” to these small villages.

“It’s a good village, but with a derelict building of an old pub in the middle of it it’s very disheartening for everybody.”

He added: “We have a village shop in the parish. It’s actually two miles away from the village. That’s at Honington camp.

“We haven’t got a shop, we haven’t got a post office, we haven’t got a garage.

“We have no social facilities whatsoever other than the pub and the children’s amenity [play area and football pitch]. That’s all we have got.” He said there was a village hall, but this did not have a licence for alcohol.

Mr Hay said the petition had not been presented to Greene King, adding how now instead it would be used to support the firm’s planning application.

He said through the development the village hoped to benefit from a new, relocated children’s play area - for younger and older children - and football pitch and it is also hoped the freehold of the play area and the football field would be transferred to the parish council to secure them for future generations.

Greene King’s plans are on display on the village notice board.