SIDCUP residents are fighting to save the iconic Black Horse pub in the high street after developers have marked it for demolition.

Residents and business owners in the area are outraged the 300-year old locally listed building could be destroyed.

Plans submitted by Hillingdon Developments to Bexley Council show the building will be replaced by a Waitrose supermarket and 84-bedroom Travelodge.

Despite plans outlining how the redevelopment will reconstruct the pubs frontage to its original state, lifelong Sidcup residents will be sorry to see the original pub go.

Rinka Halliday, aged 67, of The Green, can see the pub from her house and worked there as a barmaid during the 1980s.

She said: “It’s like seeing a dear friend being beaten up.

“Last night I was so distressed I didn’t sleep at all and I read a 600 page book.

“I don’t think there is anyone in Sidcup who doesn’t know about the Black Horse, it’s the most important building here.”

The pub closed in 2007 after Bexley Council threatened to remove its drinks licence due after a series of violent incidents.

Denise Dyer, aged 55, of The Green, said: “Someone on the planning department who lives at the other end of Bexley has made the decision and doesn’t even think about what the community want.

“Old ladies like that deserve a bit if loving tenderness.”

Its 2004 classification as a locally listed building by Bexley Council recognised it as an important structure in Sidcup.

Mrs. Halliday, a member of the Bexley Civic Society, added: “It was listed to stop this happening and to make it difficult to get planning permission to change it.”

Ron Popely, of Hillingdon Developments, said: “The original pub building has been extensively converted and very little of the original building remains.

“During demolition of the parts that were not to be retained, as set out in the planning permission granted, it has been found that the facade is unstable.

“It is now standing with the assistance of horizontal and vertical steels and our engineers are of the opinion that any further work to try and complete the demolition in accordance with the granted permission, will cause the facade to collapse.”

Comments on the plans must be submitted by October 20 at bexley.gov.uk/service/planning, using reference 11/01568/FULM.

History of the Black Horse

The Black Horse pub originally opened as the Black Horse Inn in 1705.

It was at the centre of Sidcup as it grew as a community and was once one of just five buildings in the town.

This is one of the reasons why it was recognised by Bexley Council in 2004, and given the status of a locally listed building.

Sadly, during its later years, the Black Horse developed an increasingly bad reputation for rowdiness and drink-related violence.

For this reason, the pub re-branded itself as ‘The Blue Rose’ in 2002, in an aim to start afresh and rid itself of the reputation attached to it.

However, the problems continued and the pub was forced to close in 2007, after Bexley Council threatened to remove its drink license after a series of violence related incidents.

It has remained empty in Sidcup high street since.