A GROUP of friends are on the brink of success in their campaign to buy their local pub.

Around 40 regulars of the Black Buoy pub, in Wivenhoe, are set to become shareholders this summer after raising the cash needed to buy the venue from pub chain Punch Taverns.

John Moores, spokesman for the group, said quick action had helped to save the 200-year-old boozer from being lost for good after it closed last October.

He said: “The pub would be closed and converted into flats if we hadn’t taken the action we did."

See Tuesday's Gazette for the full story.