The owner of Holt's popular Byford's cafe, shop and 'posh B&B' is hoping to buy Reepham's Old Brewery House Hotel, which closed in August.

Eastern Daily Press: Iain Wilson.Iain Wilson. (Image: Archant)

Iain Wilson said the deal should be completed in the next couple of weeks and he hoped to consult local people on what they wanted on the site.

If successful, the purchase could see new life breathed into the Georgian building which had 23 bedrooms, a bar and restaurant under its last owners, Oxford Hotels and Inns who closed it in the summer, blaming a fall in trade.

Mr Wilson managed the Old Brewery House, in Market Place, for five years about 15 years ago.

'We're looking to expand and were looking for somewhere local,' he said.

'Reepham's a beautiful town and the building's grade two listed. It could be potentially fabulous - it's got lots of charm and character - but it needs significant investment.'

Mr Wilson was reluctant to be drawn on any concrete plans for the building before contracts were exchanged but said the frontage, roof and downstairs would need upgrading before re-opening and he had some ideas for development at the back of the site.

He estimated it would be about nine months between buying the building and re-opening it.

As well as Byford's, Mr Wilson owns the King's Head, in Holt, and is co-owner of The Pigs pub, at Edgefield, Sponge - a Holt-based cake business - and he shares a lease on part of The Assembly House, in Norwich.