Trouble-hit Bloxwich pub is saved for drinkers

A trouble-hit Black Country pub where drugs and an illegal pitbull dog were found has been saved, it emerged today.

The site of the Leathern Bottle, Cresswell Crescent, Bloxwich, was earmarked for shops and two-storey maisonettes.

But Walsall Council officers rejected plans after the developer failed to demonstrate why the pub should be lost to the community. Class A drugs were found in December and a warrant served under the Dangerous Dogs Act in September. The pitbull was seized and later destroyed.

The 1970s pub belongs to SEP Properties Limited, and under plans they wanted it bulldozed to make way for new homes and shops.

It had been planned for the buildings to be three-storeys high with the applicants stating the pub is currently disused and reached the end of its "useful life".

Walsall Council confirmed today the planning application had been refused by officers under delegated powers.

Today the decision was welcomed by the Walsall branch Campaign for Real Ale, which said too many pubs were being sold onto developers.

Keith Watkins, pub preservation officer for Camra, said: "It is good news and a step to support the community pub.

"Each community should have a pub and I would like to see it revived now. It is a concern the amount of pubs that are being lost."

Several pubs in Bloxwich alone have been lost to developments.

The old Knave of Hearts has been given a £1million transformation converting it into a 2,500 sq ft Co-op store. The former Lichfield Road pub closed last autumn and more than 200 people applied for 23 jobs going.

The Eagle pub, also in Cresswell Crescent, is due to be pulled down after standing empty since 2007 when a man was shot. Plans for 18 apartments on the site were approved by council chiefs earlier this summer.

The Bull's Head in Park Road has been bought by developers Dorchester Land Ltd, with the intention of converting it into a supermarket.