A HOTEL and restaurant has stepped in to fill a void left in Bungay following the closure of the town off-licence and one stop store.Londis in St Mary's Street and Threshers in Broad Street have shut down and only Rainbow, on the outskirts of town is selling wines and spirits.

A HOTEL and restaurant has stepped in to fill a void left in Bungay following the closure of the town off-licence and one stop store.

Londis in St Mary's Street and Threshers in Broad Street have shut down and only Rainbow, on the outskirts of town is selling wines and spirits.

In response to the problem The Castle Inn in Earsham Street is now offering takeaway bottles, cans of beer and lager and tobacco.

Tanya Martin, co-owner, said she had had complaints about the lack of places to buy alcohol after normal working hours.

She said “In the run down to Christmas, with people out visiting friends or having parties, there's nothing worse than realising you don't have the type of wine or spirit that great uncle jock likes to drink, or a bottle to take with you to toast your hosts.

“Not everybody is so organised that they will have all their drinks ready for people to come round.”

The takeaway service will be offered over the bar at the Castle Inn from noon to around 10pm, and as the pub already stocks the items for sale they have had to adapt their business only very slightly.

“It's very sad that both businesses have been forced into closure through no fault of their own and in spite of the fact that both were well run by hard working people,” said Tanya.

She added that the service may only be in place until another off-licence opens.

The Londis store was closed in October after the building was repossessed from the landlord leasing it, while the Threshers store shut this week after the company announced the closure of 381 stores countrywide.