A POPULAR pub in Malvern will close while the deal to buy it for the community is completed.

The Brewers Arms in West Malvern was saved last month after a group from the community raised more than £400,000 to buy it from Admiral Taverns.

Now, the much-loved pub will close so the final details of the sale can be confirmed.

It is now hoped the deeds to the pub will be secured by the Brewers Community Pub group, with a spokesperson saying: "The Brewers has now closed and the temporary tenants have left. 

"Once we have exchanged contracts on the purchase we shall let you know.

"Hopefully the pub will be ours soon."

Malvern Gazette: INSIDE: The bar at the Brewers ArmsINSIDE: The bar at the Brewers Arms

So far more than 400 people have signed up to buy shares in the new community pub.

The hope is that as a community-run pub, costs will be lower and there will be more freedom for future tenants to run it how they wish.

Brian O'Connell, from the community group, told residents it was hoped the pub could be re-opened by the August Bank Holiday.

On the Brewers Community Pub Facebook page, he wrote: "We hope to exchange contracts and complete the purchase so that the pub is ours by the August Bank Holiday.

"Once we exchange contracts we propose to call a public meeting to discuss ideas for the pub and to recruit volunteers to assist in getting the pub up to scratch.

Malvern Gazette: VOTE: West Malvern residents agree to start their bid to buy the BrewersVOTE: West Malvern residents agree to start their bid to buy the Brewers

"We shall discuss the formation of a 'Friends of The Brewers Arms' whose purpose will be to raise funds, assist in organising events, and generally to promote the pub by involving people irrespective of whether they are shareholders or not."

Oncve the sale is complete, tradespeople and builders will be sourced to carry out a substantial renocvation of the pub building, which needs work on the toilets and kitchen.

The move to buy the Brewers Arms started when Admiral Taverns announced it was looking to sell.

This followed years of successive owners failing to make a success of the pub.

At a packed-out meeting last November, people in the West Malvern community voted unanimously to attempt to buy it.