Kings Highway pub to be torn down for £2m Netto store
A BLACK Country pub which was a famous landmark for more than a century is set to be bulldozed to make way for a £2 million superstore, it was revealed today.
An application to flatten the Kings Highway pub in Hagley Road West, Oldbury, to make way for a new Netto store has been submitted to Sandwell Council.
The huge pub is believed to date back more than 100 years, but has stood empty for more than a year and has been targeted by metal thieves and vandals.
Sandwell Council planners are being recommended to approve the application at a meeting next Wednesday – despite massive opposition in the area.
A petition with more than 1,280 signatures and 21 letters of objection have been submitted to planners warning that the new development could kill off other stores in the area.
Amrit Singh, who runs Quinton Post Office on Hagley Road West, said he feared the huge new development could sound the death knell for his business.
“I am very much opposed to this application - it is not going to do traders around here any good at all,” he added.
Netto plan to build a new store and two other retail units on the site, together with 86 parking spaces.
The famous pub, which was a landmark pub and restaurant for decades, has fallen into disrepair since it closed in July last year.
Five years ago the Mail voiced concerns of residents who were complaining about noise and anti-social behaviour from young people using the pub.
Now the site of the Kings Highway is set for a new lease of life.
A report to next week’s planning committee meeting says that turning the site over to a retail development represents the best use of the land.
The report says that the development would be good for the area, on the border of Oldbury and Quinton.
