THE former local pub of legendary TV screenwriter and dramatist Dennis Potter is set to go under the hammer next month with a guide price of £185,000.

Berry Hill’s Globe Inn, five miles from Monmouth, has a Singing Detective mural tribute to the village’s most famous son on its outside wall, painted in 2019 by local artist Tom Cousins.

The detached public house, on Park Road, which dates back to the late 1800s, is being sold freehold, subject to an existing tenancy which runs until June 2029.

Potter, the son of a Forest miner, who was born in nearby Joyford and brought up in Berry Hill, went on to attend Oxford and become an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist, best known for BBC TV series Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective, and TV plays Blue Remembered Hills and Brimstone and Treacle.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative dramatists to have worked in British television, his works were often set or partly set in the Forest of his childhood, mixing fantasy and reality.

One of his earliest works, the TV play A Beast With Two Backs , about the true mob killing of performing bears brought to the Forest by French travellers in 1889, and largely filmed in Lydbrook, sparked controversy locally, as it was seen by some as mocking his own heritage.

But having wed wife Margaret at Berry Hill church in 1959, he returned after finding fame in London to live near Lydney and later Ross-on-Wye, where he died aged 59 in 1994, just five weeks after her passing.

According to property specialists Bond Wolfe, the village pub is currently rented to The Globe Inn (Berry Hill) Ltd and generates annual rental income of £21,734.28.

Gurpreet Bassi, chief executive of Bond Wolfe, said the building was a traditional two-storey public house with rear and side extensions and has been finished to a high standard.

He said: “This traditional local public house is a two-storey, detached and ‘L’-shaped building with rear and side extensions.

“The ground floor extends to 1,708 sq ft and is divided into two distinct areas, with the bar area next to the front entrance, and the kitchen and dining room at the rear.

“The property has been internally finished to a high standard, with painted plaster walls and a combination of carpeted flooring and timber ceiling beams.”

The property also includes a 616 square foot flat above the pub, while the accommodation comprises a kitchenette, two bedrooms, a living room and a bathroom.

Outside, there is space for approximately 14 vehicles, together with a designated disabled parking space.

Bond Wolfe is selling the property in conjunction with Watling Real Estate on behalf of the fixed charge receivers.

Mr Bassi said offers above the guide price could be considered before the auction takes place.

The live-streamed auction on Thursday, July 9, is due to begin at 8.30am, with bidding available online, by telephone or by proxy.

Further information is available from the auctioneers.