A pair of eyesore shops in Wednesbury which have been the target of complaints for 20 years will be knocked down within weeks.

People living on Carrington Road, in Friar Park, have been fighting for action on the eyesore parade.

But ward councillor Simon Hackett told the Express & Star today that the bulldozers would be moving in within the next two weeks.

Two empty units, which have recently been fenced off by Sandwell Council, are to be knocked  down, while the only open shops in the row – a convenience store and a café – have been given a reprieve, along with another empty shop which is directly attached.

A public consultation exercise to determine their future will now be launched, so the traders and residents can have their say.

The Friar Park Labour Club at one end of the parade will also be considered in the move.

Councillor Hackett, cabinet member for housing, said: “This has been going on for so long it is an absolute disgrace, it has got so bad round there the locals call it Beirut.

“The two shops are being demolished immediately, in the next two weeks, and we will be consulting on the remaining shops with locals and traders.

“We want to improve the area, we don’t want to do anything that people don’t want to happen.

“It may be that they are all knocked down and rebuilt or moved, the same goes for the labour club, we will ask them what they want to happen.”

Bharminder Lally, aged 30, manages Lallys, the convenience store and news-agent which he has leased for the past three years.

Along with The Hungry Horse Café, they are the only businesses still open.

He said: “They do need to go, it’s a drugs den around there, it’s rough and a mess.

“If they want to knock us down and rebuild us then fine, I’d love a new shop, but I don’t want to move or close, this is my business and I have worked hard on it.”