Villagers could have the right to bid to buy their pub after parish councillors successfully applied to have it listed as a community asset.

The DuCane Arms, in Tiptree Road, Great Braxted, closed in December last year.

It remains empty and Barking Dogs, the current freehold owners, have applied for planning permission to change it into a house.

Great Braxted Parish Council has not objected to the application, which Maldon District Council has yet to make a decision on.

But it successfully applied to the district council to list the pub as a community asset, on the grounds it ”furthers the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community.”