Pub axe plan provokes complaints

Plans to demolish a Nottingham pub so a supermarket can expand have been criticised by campaigners.

Greene King, owners of the Windsor Castle in Carlton, have agreed to sell the land to retailing giant Tesco.

But the local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said the Windsor Castle was a successful and important community venue.

Greene King said the pub would be open as usual for another 17 months before any work began.

Wider impact

The current Windsor Castle is a new building after the first phase of the Tesco store led to the original's demolition.

Spyke Golding, chairman of the Nottingham branch of Camra, criticised the waste of a community resource.

"People are not happy, we are already losing a lot of community pubs and this is a successful pub, it is not really struggling.

"I think it is greed on the part of Greene King because Tesco have made them a very good offer for it because they feel they need the land."

"I live in Carlton and I don't feel it needs expanding and all a bigger Tesco will do is affect more pubs by selling more cheap beer."

Plans for the expansion have gone on display in the Tesco store.

The store said it understood the concerns of people and Greene King said The Windsor Castle remained open and it was business as usual.

The deal between the brewery and Tesco means they will continue to run it until April 2010