Pub meeting cancelled after TV company pulls the plug

A public meeting, due to take place tonight, to discuss plans to reopen a Norfolk pub has been cancelled.

A TV company's plans to help reopen The Ploughshare at Beeston, near Dereham, as a community pub looked set to save the once popular watering hole.

Twofour Broadcast, a TV company based in Plymouth, suggested a scheme in which the pub would be taken over for a month, run by the community whose efforts would be filmed for a series called Save Our Boozer screened on digital channel UK TV Blighty.

But earlier today the show's presenter and 'pub expert' Jay Smith visited the village pub for the first time and decided that there would be too much renovation work required before it could reopen and it would not fit into their tight filming schedule.

The public meeting inviting the whole community to discuss the plans to reopen the pub and have their say was due to be held at Beeston Village Hall tonight at 6.30pm but without the TV company's input it has been decided to cancel the meeting.

The show's producer Jonney Steven told the EDP: 'Jay Smith has only just seen the pub for the first time and realised that the time frame we have to make the programme was too tight considering the renovation work that was needed. We are not now going ahead with the programme at The Ploughshare and have been in touch with the owner to explain the situation.'

The pub has seen repeated openings and closings in recent years and has been closed since the beginning of the year.