Homes set for pub site

Plans have been approved to turn the site of a former West Bromwich pub into homes.

The former Hop and Barleycorn pub on Dartmouth Street was demolished after it attracted squatters and drug abusers.

An application was first made for planning permission for homes in 2005.

The latest application is by Omar Binshihoun, who will occupy the biggest five-bedroom home.

Three one-bedroom apartments are also planned and it has been designed to fit in with a large development of houses nearby.

President of West Bromwich Local History Society Stan Wilkins said: "We are losing a lot of pubs around here. They are all being knocked down for blocks of flats or so it seems."

The plans have been put together by agents Catalyst Regeneration. In a report to planners, the company states: "On Duke Street, adjacent to the site, a large development of apartments and terraced houses is in the process of construction by Laing Homes."

The previous application was for the change of use to a five-bedroom residential property. Planners approved the latest application under delegated powers.

West Bromwich's Golden Lion pub faced its own last orders last month after bulldozers moved in to demolish it. One year short of its 70th birthday, the pub in Hall Green Lane was pulled down to make way for a housing development.

Camra says that over recent years other notable pubs to bite the dust are The George And Dragon and The Lagoon in Tipton.