The fire destroyed large sections of the pub's roof

The Grade II-listed Three Tuns in Hay-on-Wye had been in landlady Lucy Powell's family for 85 years.

She had intended to restore the pub, but said she was "under-insured".

New owner Ian Burgess, 32, said he hoped to reopen the pub within a year, with buying and restoration costs of about �500,000.

Mr Burgess, who owns a mail order company and lives in Hay-on-Wye, said: "It was not strictly a business purchase. There was an element of emotion.

'Great memories'

"I have enjoyed going to the Three Tuns in the past and I intend to restore it as sympathetically as possible."

With a guide price of �150,000, the pub was auctioned in Hay-on-Wye on Thursday. Former landlady Miss Powell was there to see the business started by her father sold.

Miss Powell said last week she was sad to see the pub go, but had "great memories" of her time there.

The blaze, which started in the roof of the property in February 2005, was caused by an electrical fault.

Miss Powell has claimed it was a watering hole for many well-known figures, including the Great Train Robbers while they were on the run in 1963.