LOCALS faced with the sudden closure of The Rising Sun at Broadwell, near Coleford, have organised a petition in a last ditch bid to save their favourite watering hole.
They will ask Forest planners to refuse permission to change the property from a pub to residential use.
The closure of the pub came out of the blue and left skittles, crib, quoits and darts teams with nowhere to play. "We were left completely in the dark, though there have been a lot of rumours," said Gordon Shingles, a regular who has now collected over 200 signatures in his bid to save the old inn.
"It was very much part of the community and a local meeting place," he said.
News that the future plan for the Rising Sun is "residential" has come in a statement from agents Christie and Co.
They say the sale was part of a corporate disposal of 176 public houses which Christie and Co had been instructed to sell on behalf of Enterprise Inns as part of the on-going rationalisation of their estate.
"The Rising Sun attracted a number of offers so eventually 'best and final offers' were sought, culminating in the sale of the premises to Anne Madder from Hackney, London. Having recently sold the former Brownlow Arms in Hackney, which she had converted for residential use, Ms Madder was in a position to proceed very quickly with the purchase of the Rising Sun and the transaction was completed within just three weeks. It is her intention to also convert the Rising Sun for residential use," says a Christie spokesman.
He added that the inn was sold for an undisclosed figure off an asking price of £95,000.