Villagers on edge to see if Cambridgeshire pub will be saved
Community groups have until today to submit an offer
Villagers are confident they can make a Cambridgeshire pub meet the needs of customers if their campaign to buy it is successful.
Community groups have until today to submit an offer to buy the Ickleton Lion, put up for sale by owners Greene King last year.
Close to £450,000 to save it has since been raised by locals, as well as people from as far as the United States and Canada.
Simon Cheney's vice chair of Ickleton Community Pub Limited:
"You never quite know with a closed building and a community just what the interest will be, and I think it's been amazing just how many people have stepped up to help fundraise, manage the group forwards but also to get involved," he said.
"In a small village like this, there is a demand to go out in the evenings, maybe earlier than it was 30 years ago but there's still a demand.
"I think what we need to create is the perfect village pub for today."
Up until today, only bids from community interest groups can be considered by Greene King before more offers are allowed.
In the last 10 weeks, Ickleton Community Pub Limited has welcomed 420 shareholders, as well as holding a series of fundraising events.
Failure of pub campaigns "incredibly rare"
Simon said campaigns like these are unlikely to not achieve their aim.
"There are a number of successful examples (of community campaigns to save pubs) around the country and it's incredibly rare for them to fail," he added.
"Pubs are closing every day, but if you're good and independent, you have the ability to be different and meet the needs of your local community.
"We hope Greene King will work with us to take on the pub, then the hard work will really begin of renovating a building, hiring a team and delivering what we set out to do which is the Ickleton Lion for the next hundreds of years."
A spokesperson for Greene King has previously said "we hope to share more good news on this in the near future.”