Last orders? Plans backed to turn well-known Tipton pub into shop

Heron Foods wants to create a new shop on the site of the Sportsman in Tipton, despite it still being open for business. The pub, on St Mark's Road, is now facing the very real threat of closure.

A campaign has been launched to save it by customers but councillors have been advised to give the plans the green light.

The decision by planning officials is a huge blow for staff and customers. Councillors will have the final say at a meeting this week, but have been advised by experts that the plan should be allowed to go ahead.

Planners said it was 'accepted that the redevelopment of the site would result in the loss of the pub' but that as it had not been nominated for Asset of Community Value status, the application was 'only be reviewed on the merits of the scheme'.

Petitions signed by more than 600 people calling for the pub, which has been a fixture of the area for around 50 years, to be saved have been handed to Sandwell Council, while customers have also written to MP Adrian Bailey asking him to back the campaign. Another 230 letters of objection will also be considered by the planning committee.

The pub is owned by New River Retail, which has overseen changes of many of its pubs to shops over recent years.

James Marsh, who drinks in the Sportsman and lives on nearby South Road, has threatened to boycott the Heron shop, should it open at the pub.

He said: "Since the new landlord has taken over he has built it back up again and it seems a shame to shut it when it is doing so well. Two petitions have gone into the council, signed by more than 600 people.

"We are short of places for people to get together. Apart from the Sportsman we have only really got the church hall so could do with keeping it."

Father-of-three Mr Marsh, aged 38, said residents were concerned both about the potential loss of the pub and the arrival of a new supermarket.

He said: "People don't want another supermarket and the litter and antisocial behaviour that comes with it, that's what people are worried about."

Pub manager, Ross Arnold took over in February following its brief closure around Christmas.

He said: "It is a pub that mean's a lot to the community.

"Most of the customers are elderly and it has been the local for around 50 or 60 years. We have had a lot of feedback from our customers – people are not happy about it."