Villagers in Cowbit are trying to register their fire-wrecked and derelict pub as a community asset under the Localism Act in a bid to save it from the bulldozers.
Campaigners say the legal route has proven successful for other UK residents fighting to save their village pub.
Last night the parish council met in the village hall to discuss the future of Ye Olde Dun Cow and Jonathan Matthews, spokesman for the Save The Dun Cow Campaign, hopes parish councillors will back residents.
Mr Matthews said: “We would like to take this opportunity to urge our parish council to sit down with their local community and explore every option available to get it running again for the benefit of local people.
“There is no reason why our pub couldn’t become a pub of destination as well as the heart of our village.”
So far more than 540 signatures have been collected on a petition opposed to the pub making way for a housing development.
A planning application for homes is now with South Holland District Council, but campaigners want the council to throw it out and keep the site for a pub.
Mr Matthews said: “We have an interested party who made offers to build us another pub on the site, both before and after the fire, and even now they are waiting to achieve this – an opportunity so many Cowbit villagers who voted in favour of a pub clearly want them to be given by South Holland District Council.”