The owners of a once popular pub which has closed following a dispute over rent have been urged to board up the building after it was targeted by vandals.

The Bull pub in Hellesdon shut its doors last month when landlord Patrick Cutter quit after failing to reach an agreement with owners, Enterprise Inns, about a rent review. The issue is yet to be resolved and the Reepham Road pub, which closed on April 3 and remains shut, has now been targeted by vandals.

A Norfolk police spokesman said they have received reports of criminal damage to decking and light fixtures in the pub's garden as well as garden furniture being stolen between the end of April and May 11.

Two windows were also smashed at the pub overnight between May 15 and 16 in an attack which police believe may be linked to the previous offences.

A police report to Hellesdon Parish Council at a meeting on Tuesday has prompted community leaders to write to the owners requesting that the pub be made safe to prevent further problems.

Shelagh Gurney, a parish and county councillor for Hellesdon, proposed the council take positive action to try and protect the pub from future attacks while it is at the centre of protracted negotiations over its future.

She said: 'We're very keen to try to protect it and so it was agreed we would write to Enterprise expressing our concern over the potential damage that could be done to it and ask whether they could board it up.'

Tony Adams, a parish and district councillor for Hellesdon, said despite being at the centre of an ongoing dispute it was important the building was kept safe.

He said: 'We've decided we're going to write to Enterprise asking them to take responsibility for it. We don't want to see it go to rack and ruin.'

The Evening News called Enterprise Inns but no-one was available for comment.

As previously reported Mr Cutter, who had been landlord of the pub for 13 years until he quit last month after a rent row, said trading conditions had been so dire he had been unable to make a living.

He had not paid the bill for the supply of beer for the last few weeks prior to him leaving and was in discussion with Enterprise about a rent review. But despite being helped out with some beer donated by his brother, Phil Cutter, landlord of the Murderers pub in the city, Mr Cutter had to call it a day.

Are vandals making your life a misery? Call reporter Peter Walsh on 01603 772436 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk