TV soap pub The Woolpack in Esholt is still up for sale - despite a mystery buyer making an improved offer.

Bradford Council, which owns the former Emmerdale alehouse, has rejected the bid which is believed to be higher than the £385,000 offered at auction last year.

Today the Council insisted the latest offer was just not high enough.

The Woolpack remains on the market but potential buyers have been warned: "We want a good price."

Mike Bell, head of asset management at the Council said: "We are getting £25,000 a year in rent so we are not losing anything by not selling.

"We were never selling it at just any price otherwise we would have let it go at auction."

He refused to reveal details of the offer but added: "It did not match our expectations."

At an auction last year one bidder offered £385,000 but that failed to reach the reserve price and the pub went unsold.

The Council revealed that it owned the pub - scene of so many famous soap scenes - after an audit of its assets was carried out in 2000.

It had been bought at the turn of the century for "a modest sum" by the Council - which was then also the water authority - when it was thought the land might be used for a sewage scheme. Since then it has earned a small fortune in rents.

But it was thought the 170-year-old pub did not fit in with the Council's property portfolio and it was put up for sale.

The pub - which has a three-bedroom flat above it - is still a magnet for Emmerdale fans even though filming for the Woolpack scenes is now done at specially created studios in Harewood, near Leeds.

Licensee Brian Pickard leases it from the Council.

Tony Webber of auctioneers Eddison said: "We were pleased with the response both before and after the auction which resulted in bids in the room and further offers after the sale.

"But Bradford Council always said it would not sell the pub at just any price."