VILLAGERS battling to save their local pub are attempting to enlist the support of Prince Charles.

The prince launched the Pub is the Hub campaign, which has spent the past nine years helping rural communities to take over pubs and run them successfully.

People living in Sway are hoping Pub is the Hub will help them secure the future of the Forest Heath Hotel, which closed last year.

Members of the newly formed Friends of the Forest Heath Hotel have written to the prince and are awaiting his reply.

Trans-Aqua (Guernsey) Ltd has submitted an application to turn the Grade II listed building into a block of flats.

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But villagers are hoping to defeat the application, buy the property and turn it into a community pub – with investors owning a share in the business.

The building is said to be worth at least £350,000, which means residents would be required to invest between £50 and £50,000 each.

More than 100 protesters packed a public meeting to voice their anger at plans to turn the pub into six flats, with two houses in the grounds.

During the meeting it emerged that the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) is also objecting to the proposal.

A CAMRA spokesman said: “It’s fully capable of being retained for its original use, serving the entire community rather than becoming a soulless accommodation unit.”

Ted Watts, who chaired the debate, said the Heath was in the economic centre of Sway whereas the only other pub in the area, the Hare & Hounds, was outside the village boundary.

He urged everyone present to write to the New Forest National Park Authority and lodge their objection to the flats scheme.

“Please recognise that this is an important application and you should be using your democratic rights,” said Mr Watts.

Other speakers complained that the pub closed after the previous owner, Admiral Taverns, made only a halfhearted attempt to find a new tenant.