A VILLAGE pub which shut last year could be opening its doors again.

An application has been made to Malvern Hills District Council for a premises license for the Pheasant Inn, Welland.

The pub has been shut since July 2010, and for 13 weeks, residents gathered at the premises each night in a vigil, both to maintain a community presence and safeguard the premises against vandalism.

Now David Jenkins of Tewkesbury has made an application to reopen it.

In his application, he says that he wants a licence to open for the sale of alcohol from 10am to midnight daily, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it will be 1am.

He is also applying for permission to provide live and recorded music.

He states that he also intends to develop the first floor of the pub as bed-and-breakfast accommodation and provide a camping area in the pub's grounds.

Notices advertising the application have been posted on the premises. Interested parties have until Thursday, April 21 to comment.

Roger Cousins, chairman of Little Malvern and Welland Parish Council, said: "It's early days yet, but we hope that the pub is re-opened. It's a vital part of village life."

Locals fear the prominent village pub will be redeveloped as housing if it is not kept as a pub.

Freeholder Peter Bailey had called the Pheasant an “unviable proposition” in a letter to Welland Parish Council.