A VILLAGE pub could be turned into a house after the owner was unable to attract enough customers to make a living.The future of The Swan, Alderton, near Woodbridge, is back in the spotlight after the owner, Peter Saxon, applied to Suffolk Coastal District Council for permission to close the pub.

A VILLAGE pub could be turned into a house after the owner was unable to attract enough customers to make a living.

The future of The Swan, Alderton, near Woodbridge, is back in the spotlight after the owner, Peter Saxon, applied to Suffolk Coastal District Council for permission to close the pub.

He says he has done everything possible to try to make the pub survive but he is fighting a losing battle.

In 1997 permission was given by a Government planning inspector to Pubmaster for the pub to become a house but the approval was not required after the pub remained open under a new owner.

Mr Saxon, owner since 2004, said he was very disappointed he and his wife Patricia had failed to obtain enough support after all their initiatives to increase trade.

He said: “I feel very bad because there is a handful of people who come in here to support us - but we have personally kept this pub going for quite a while. It is a business and we have had to draw the line somewhere.

“There is no possible way to keep the pub open, we are running at such a loss. We have lost customers who have moved out of the village and they have not been replaced by people who use the pub. We have a lot more second homeowners down here now.”

n. Will you be sorry to see the pub closed? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk