Campaigners who want to see one of Bradford's best-known pubs serving pints again are calling on the district's small breweries to pump new life into it.

Despite a pub operator contacting the owners of the Grade II-listed Cock & Bottle pub in Barkerend Road last summer with a view to taking-up the lease, it is still shut.

Sonny Sharma, director of Bradford property agents Sharma Williamson, said the deal had not been finalised and admitted they were back to square one, revisiting parties who had shown interest in the 18th Century building.

He said: "We are still fielding inquiries about the property and are going back to the people who originally showed an interest. We want to get the right person in place who can do the building justice and hope to have more positive news in two or three months time."

The building has been empty since 2003 when its four years as a Christian pub came to an end and it was closed down.

It brought to an end the latest chapter in the history of the building which still retains many of its distinctive original features.

But John Bell, of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) in Bradford, said he was worried the bar was being left to deteriorate. "We are very disappointed that it's been boarded up for so long," he said.

"Obviously there's no heat on in there and the bar area will be getting into a terrible state. It is one of very few pubs left in the country that are regarded as having an unspoilt interior and we want to save it. It's too small a concern for the big pub chains to be interested but it could be turned into something very special if a small brewery took it on and gave it 100 per cent attention."

The Cock & Bottle dates back to 1747 when an inn was licensed on or near the site of the present building. Sir Thomas Fairfax's wife is said to have been captured by Royalist forces in 1643 on the spot where it now stands.