The bulldozers have moved in to demolish a former landmark pub in Penn to make way for a housing development.

The Battle of Britain pub has become the latest in a string of once-popular pubs to close their doors to make way for new homes.

Half of the eyesore site has been reduced to rubble as part of the project.

Campaigners have been demanding action at the site since the pub closed down in November 2005 and was left to stand as a rotting eyesore.

The pub was once a popular local, and was mentioned by chef Nigel Slater in his memoirs of growing in Penn.

But the half-acre site, on the corner of Birchwood Road and Sandringham Road, has been constantly targeted by vandals since it closed its doors and the site changed hands several times.

Councillor Patricia Patten said that the fact that the pub had been left to rot was a “disgrace”.

She said she had received dozens of complaints about youths hanging around the site until the early hours and clambering on the roof. “I just wish we could have pushed through the planning application quicker so the people living around derelict pubs like this didn’t have to suffer with the nuisance for so long,” she added.

The protesters are delighted that work is finally going ahead to tear down the eyesore building and move forward with plans to create six semi-detached homes and three terraced houses on the site.

The news comes as planning permission was granted to transform another former Wolverhampton pub site with housing. Five houses are to go on  the old George & Dragon, in Broad Lane.