Fox and Hounds pub home plans blocked by Breckland council

The owner of the Fox and Hounds pub in Weasenham St Peter, a rural village near Fakenham, hoped to change the closed watering hole into a three-bed house.

But after uproar from locals and the Campaign for Pubs, Breckland Council officials chose to block the plans, arguing it was a community asset worth keeping.

Breckland Council officers decided the pub had to stay (Image: Ian Burt)

The owner took the decision to shut after the death of her husband, who together had run the pub for more than 20 years.

After struggling to sell it, the 78-year-old decided to turn it into a home in consideration of her "health and future financial security."

People living in the village said it would be a "terrible loss" to the village if it was to be gone for good, describing it as an "institution and a social asset" that would bring visitors to the area.

READ MORE: Owner of former pub beats enforcers over plastic window

The grassroots Campaign for Pubs weighed in, calling on officials to block the bid as the community "needs a beating heart and that part of that heart is a good, wholesome, happy public house."

It added locals would have to travel three miles to find the next watering hole if it was to disappear.

But one villager pointed to the fact the pub had struggled to find a buyer and questioned whether it could be brought back into a thriving business again in the current economic climate.

After consideration by council officials, it was decided that the pub was too important for the villagers, describing it as a "local need" and that it would not be right for them to have to travel three miles to find refreshment.