A village pub has been given a lifeline after new protections mean it is safe from demolition.
The Queens Head pub in Burgh Castle was listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) last month by Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
The special status was championed under the previous government's localism agenda and means communities can ask their local council to grant certain amenities special status.
MORE: Landlord defends plans to demolish pubIn December there were fears that the pub would be razed to the ground after a demolition order was applied for by the owner.
The new status means the pub cannot be torn down and if it comes up for sale, villagers have six months to put together a bid to buy it.
Vice chairman of the parish council Eric Foster said the issue had been quite a furore.
He added: 'Villages are dying because there is nothing in them. They are just becoming conglomerates of housing. They are just going to be faceless places and faces will become part of towns.
'The days of the village shop are disappearing. We are lucky because we have still got a shop with a post office.
'A pub in a village is a very good amenity. The Queens Head is a nice building and adds to the character of the place.'
The pub was nominated to be an ACV by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and it was approved last month, for a period of five years.
A borough council spokesman said: 'If someone wishes to demolish a building, it is a requirement that the applicant notifies the local planning authority to see if prior approval is required for the proposed method of demolition.
MORE: Shock at plans to demolish pub'The procedure does not allow the local planning authority to prevent the demolition, only to request the details of demolition to ensure that the planned demolition method is appropriate. In January the council issued a letter confirming that no further details of the method of demolition were required.
'Demolition cannot legally take place within 56 days of such a letter being issued. During that period, the council received and approved a nomination from CAMRA to list the pub as an asset of community value.
'The permitted development rights for demolition have been over-ridden by the listing of the building as an asset of community value.'
Homes plan
Last week plans to build four new houses on the pub's car park were approved by the borough council's planning committee.
The proposal seeks to redevelop the existing overflow car park servicing the pub to provide four new homes and replace the overflow car park to the rear of the pub. The site is immediately next to the Burgh Castle village boundary development limits.
The plans are to build a terrace of four, two-storey houses to the rear of the site with a parking and turning area at the front, the parking area will be accessed from the existing site entrance off High Road.
The houses will have a living room and kitchen on the ground floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor. There will be two parking spaces per dwelling and each house will have a garden at the rear.
The units will be lower cost houses and will be set back on the site so there will be no effect on nearby homes.
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