A once popular pub Black Country pub which had hit hard times and closed is now to be demolished in order to make way for new homes in the area.
The Old Crown Inn, based in Intended Street, Cradley, shut down over a year ago and is earmarked for demolition under plans submitted to Dudley Council this week.
M & E Construction, located at Wolverhampton Airport, is behind the plans to flatten the pub and build seven bungalows in its place.
Ward councillor Richard Body said the pub had once been a hub of the community decades ago but had fallen on hard times in recent years.
He said: “Like all pubs these days it had lost a lot of business and just before it closed it had become a bit of a hang out for under age drinkers causing a lot of anti social behaviour. It is a shame to say it but I don’t think it will be missed much and I welcome new bungalows at that spot – I would rather see that than apartments,” pointed out the councillor.
The pub and car park sits in the middle of a residential estate which consists of mainly bungalows and homes for the elderly. However other ward councillor Gaye Partridge said she had reservations over the number of proposed homes on the pub site.
She said: “I would want to see the plans first and get out and talk to the local community around there to see what they think.
“My first reaction is that seven bungalows on there is quite a lot,” she added.
The Old Crown Inn pub is one of the latest traditional pubs in the region to close down because of lack of trade.
The Woodman Inn, Mount Pleasant, which is home to the long-running Woodman Folk Club, shut down at the end of March.
The pub had previously been a favourite hang-out for folk musicians including the likes of Jasper Carrott in his early days.
Other well known watering holes lost in the Black Country in recent years have included The Duncan Edwards pub which shut down and was demolished in 2007.
Also The Prince of Wales in Stourbridge Road, a popular spot among celebrities like Johnny Briggs and Robert Plant in the past.
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