A PUB which closed several weeks ago is set to reopen.

The Retired Soldier, at Link Top, is probably the smallest pub in the Malvern area.

It closed after previous owners, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries, sold it as part of a group of pubs to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Bank spokesman Matthew Parker said the bank had a leisure sector which included pub management.

He said: "The pub is currently in poor shape but it is in a good area and it has been earmarked for improvements.

"Unfortunately, I cannot say when. There are no plans to sell it."

Meanwhile, mystery surrounds the future of another pub, at the opposite end of the Link, which has been empty for about two years.

The Oak, Worcester Road, formerly the Royal Oak, is a Grade II listed building which has been boarded up since closure.

The pub was originally owned by Whitbread, which sold it to a company called Trent Taverns

It fell into the hands of the Punch Pub Company, which also owns the Gloster Arms, in Malvern Link, and the Langland Arms.

A Punch spokesman said the company had now sold the building, but was unable to say who the buyer was.