Pub-lovers west of Norwich will be eternally grateful to two young women who stepped into the breach when the only pub in a village closed.

Shelley Cobbe and Charlotte Leverett were bar and assistant manager, respectively, at Ye Olde Honingham Buck Inn when it closed earlier in the year.

And about four weeks later they bravely took it on as leaseholders.

That was at the beginning of November and about six weeks later they are now reaping the benefits of their decision, with a packed pub full of happy drinkers and diners.

Shelley said: 'We decided to take it on and thought we could make a go of it, and felt it would be a good time to take over the pub coming up to Christmas.

'We loved the pub and the locals so much that we did not want to see it closed for good, which it could have been if we had not taken it on. This village needs a pub.'

That is certainly the view of one regular, who has spent a lot of his life at the pub in the last 50 years, and was distraught when it shut its doors.

'They deserve success because it was a brave decision for two young women to take on the responsibility of running the pub on their own.

'Let's just hope that they are successful', he said.

Both landladies are experienced in the pub trade, and are now planning for next year.

Shelley added: 'While it was a bit daunting taking it on, it was something we felt passionately about. In the future we want to develop the business more and have several ideas to move it on.

'We will do a quiz night from January, and a 'buy one, get one free' during British pie week.

'We will also have live music once a month. We already have three real ales and do fish and chips on Fridays and steak nights on Wednesday's.

'But it would be nice to get more people in. We do get people from the village and people coming out from Norwich on their way to Dereham.'

The Evening News has been urging people to return to pubs in our Love your Local campaign.

To see more stories from the campaign visit www.eveningnews.co.uk/loveyourlocal