The Green Man was sold through Christie & Co by Sue and Ken Wren. The purchasers are Deborah and Dudley Naslund, whose daughter, Jackie, and son-in-law, Brian, were former licensees of the Elephant & Castle in the nearby village of Eyke, near Woodbridge. The freehouse went for an undisclosed figure off an asking price of £247,000 for the freehold. The Green Man dates from 1904 and is in the centre of Tunstall village. It has a main bar, dining room/restaurant to seat 28, four-bedroom owner's accommodation, landscaped beer garden with large fishpond and waterfall, children's playground and car park. The Wrens had owned and operated the Green Man since March 1999 and sold it to devote more time to their young family. They have made many improvements to the freehouse, which was awarded the title "Best Rural Pub 2001" by a regional newspaper. With the local post office facing closure for conversion to residential use, and no other shops in the village, plans were submitted by the Wrens for the extension of the Green Man to provide facilities for a local post office and shop. Bill Colquhoun, associate director of the Ipswich office of Christie & Co, who negotiated the sale, said: "The Green Man was sold amidst stiff competition from other prospective buyers, a reflection of the rarity of freehold freehouses currently available for sale generally within Suffolk.
