A 150-YEAR-OLD outbuilding at the The Mailcoach pub has been saved from demolition and will become a bed & breakfast.

Swindon Council gave permission this week for pub lanndlords Martin Jones and Marc Schofield to press ahead with the plans outlined for a five-bedroom conversion.

It is hoped it will be ready before Christmas and the development could be the start of a new road to expansion for the pair, with plans for more bedrooms above their existing pub and another venue in Swindon.

Enterprise Inns, the company which owns the pub and outbuilding, had been granted prior approval for the demolition of the detached plot in 2012 after one of its walls collapsed.

Martin, who took on The Mailcoach’s lease with Marc in April 2012, was unhappy about Enterprise’s intentions and fought them to save it.

A condition in the pair’s lease ensured Enterprise repaired the outbuilding, at the back of the pub, and now Martin has gone one step further with an application to convert the interior.

The plans propose five rooms for 11 guests to stay in what will be a converted hay barn.

“When the horses used to pull the boats down along Canal Street, they were brought here to keep them warm,” said Martin, an electrician by trade.

“To me, that’s got historical interest. No one ever noticed the building until it needed rebuilding and repointing. It’s an historical site worth saving.

“A big company like Enterprise just looks at the figures, they don’t care about the history of buildings like this.

“When we took on this place we were looking at turning it into a restaurant, but it wasn’t the ideal thing.

“We tried food here as a pub and it ran okay, but it wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be, so we thought what else can we do with it?

“More pub space would make the venue too large for what we do.

“As a B&B it’s ideal, right in the town centre, a lovely old building, marketed and advertised in the right way.

“If people see it’s a 150-year-old hay barn with a modern interior it’s going to catch their eye.”

Martin and Marc’s plans for growth do not stop there. They are due to agree a deal with Enterprise next year, which would split the pub into two.

Swindon’s only gay pub would retain its Carr Street entrance, with the Fleet Street side offered up as a new lease for a new tenant.

The deal would extend the life of The Mailcoach and allow room for more bedrooms upstairs.

“By doing that deal we get to extend the life of this pub for the next 10 years as well as putting more rooms in upstairs,” said Martin.

He also revealed plans to look for a new, second venue in the town for the pair to run in the New Year.