PLANS have been unveiled to turn a defunct village pub which is "no longer viable" into a family home.

Bird and Sons has submitted proposals which would transform the former Pinkuah Arms in Pentlow on the Essex-Suffolk border.

The historic pub, in Pinkuah Lane, was the only one in the village.

The once-popular venue has not operated since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which it was open intermittently and as a hot food takeaway.

It finally ceased trading at the end of 2021.

The pub was previously an asset of community value (ACV), being listed in January 2013 and again in January 2018.

That status has now lapsed following the end of the five-year period.

In November 2022, Braintree Council received a nomination from Pentlow Parish Council to relist the, but the council decided in January 2023 that the property was no longer of community value and the nomination was unsuccessful.

Another nomination was made in April 2023, based on further evidence, but this was also refused.

The applicant has owned the pub since 2013 when the previous landlord was declared bankrupt.

Since then, five different tenants have run the pub.

The application is now seeking the change of use of the property from a pub to a house.

Plans say the property would make a “small family home” of two or three bedrooms.

A private garden would be provided to the rear with parking and turning areas to the side and front.

The application says even when Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and the pub was open five days a week, including weekends, the Pinkuah Arms was making a loss “every day”.

The application says the village “does not have enough supporting customers to break even” and describes the pub as “not viable”.

It says the redevelopment would make help "support housing needs”.

Braintree Council will rule on the plans.