The Trowel & Hammer Inn, in Cotton, near Stowmarket, is set to stand closed following the moving on of its landlords.

Bosses at Stonegate Pub Partners – which own the pub – say they are "reviewing options for the future of the site" after it closed its doors on September 1.

Kaiylah Scott – who ran the pub with her siblings and mother – said it was a "shame" that they could not continue with the pub and make it as popular as they would like - and that it was "sold from underneath" them.

She added: “It went up for sale, we put an offer in and then the next minute we got a letter through the door saying that we had to be out in two weeks.

“We weren't physically able to move out in two weeks so we got it up to four – and then a couple of weeks ago our area manager asked us if we were able to run the pub because the people who bought it have pulled out.

“At this point, we’d leased another pub – we said we’d stay here until our pub was refurbished.

“However, we have just received another notice saying we have to be out in the next two weeks."

Kaiylah and her family took over the pub three weeks before the first lockdown and are now switching their attention to another venture, the Blue Boar Inn in Walsham – which will open on October 8.

She said: “Most of the village are disheartened that we are going.

“It’s the last pub in the village.

“It’s probably going to sit boarded-up now.

“This place was just getting started in a way – we'd built up a reputation, people started coming in for our food.

“Because of what’s happened now we’re going to have to start again.

“It’s a shame we haven't been able to get the pub as popular as we’d like.

“Hopefully with Walsham we’ll be able to do that."

A spokesperson for Stonegate Pub Partners said: “We have been in regular communication with Ms Drewitt (the landlord), the incumbent tenant of The Trowel and Hammer, about her lease coming to an end in mid-September.

"We are currently reviewing options for the future of the site.”