A popular pub near to Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital is to be bulldozed to make way for a £4.5 million GP surgery and health centre under new plans revealed today.

Plans have been put forward to demolish The Manhattan Pub, in Wolverhampton Road, Heath Town, to make way for the new development.

Wolverhampton Primary Care Trust has identified the pub – expected to remain open until the summer – as an ideal site for the new facility.

But the landlady of 10 years is shocked at the proposal.

Heath Town councillor Caroline Siarkiewicz said: “The area is considered as having high need. We have a number of very good GPs in the area but they are sometimes working from less than ideal surgeries that are restrictive.

“Bringing them together into a new purpose-built clinic would mean that access to new services could be provided to patients. It’s a great idea.”

However her thoughts were not shared by The Manhattan’s landlady Monica Guy, aged 58.

She said: “My home and livelihood are being taken away and a good pub is being lost to the community.

“I could understand it if customers had caused trouble but I’ve always kept an orderly and friendly house.

“This is a popular pub which is important to the local area where peopel come for a drink and a chat and to share their thoughts. This is very bad for the community.”

The state-of-the-art health centre will be the fourth in the city to be built under the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) initiative.

It will accommodate a number of existing GP practices and is expected to open late next year or early 2011.

Neil Nisbet, director of finance for the PCT, said: “We have been searching for a suitable location for at least two years and are delighted that negotiations are now under way to acquire and develop this site.”