VILLAGERS in Upper Chute have decided to bombard Kennet planners with protest letters in a bid to stop their local pub from being converted to housing.

Planners have received an application from Doublevision Inns Ltd to convert the building to a dwelling. The pub closed late last year and the pub furniture was removed almost immediately.

But the move has left villagers with nowhere to enjoy a convivial drink - the nearest pub, The Hatchet, is well over a mile away along narrow, unlit country lanes which do not have footways.

Since the closure there have been three protest meetings and the most recent - and largest - drew more than 70 people who pledged to fight the proposal.

"It isn't simply the same people who are meeting up but the whole cross-section of the local community who are against this proposal," said Jerry Wheeler, one of those who has attended all three meetings.

"The vast majority of people in the village don't want the pub converted into a house."

However, the owner of the property has spoken out about the high cost of running a pub in a village and says the business is not viable because of high running costs, ever-increasing red tape and high business rates.

For the full story see Friday's Andover Advertiser.