A landmark pub in the Black Country has been boarded up after a facelift failed to boost trade enough to save it from closure.

Metal boards have been put up to prevent squatters moving in following a court battle between pub chain Mitchells & Butlers and at least one uninvited guest at The Fellows.

A repossession notice was issued earlier this month by Dudley County Court after a contractor spotted someone in the vacant pub and the back door open.

Corporate affairs manager at Mitchells & Butlers, Jenny Grant, blamed poor customer numbers for the pub’s closure and said no offers had been made for the building since last orders were called more than a month ago. An investment in the pub did not improve trading and the decision was taken to sell the site, she said.

“It has been on the market for some time and although we’ve had a little bit of interest, no offers have been made,” she added.

The Fellows, on a prominent site near the junction of The Broadway, Castle Hill and Lower High Street, Dudley, was bought by Mitchells & Butlers, based in Fleet Street, Birmingham, several years ago from leisure giant Whitbread, which had run the pub as a Beefeater.

After the trespasser was spotted, solictor Kate Bygroves, from Birmingham-based Eversheds LLP Solicitors, applied to the court for a repossession order to be issued.

The order, posted on two of the former public entrances to the pub, states that the trespassers were spotted on April 26 by a contractor working at the site.

Miss Grant said that a site inspection was carried out by M&B, who found no evidence of anyone squatting. She added that the notice was “a precautionary measure”.

The Midlands’ pub trade was recently revealed to be one of the hardest hit in the country, according to figures released by the Treasury.

The figures show 60 pubs have closed in Dudley since 1997, along with 60 in Sandwell and 100 in Birmingham.