AN HISTORIC pub looks set to meet “a sad end” as plans to turn it into a supermarket await approval.

The Rodbourne Arms in Cheney Manor Road has been open since 1905, but now faces a date with the bulldozers.

A planning application has been received by Swindon Council from frozen food company, Farm Foods, to build a new store on the site where the pub now stands.

The proposals are out to public consultation.

The pub’s fortunes had flagged in recent years, and it lost a lot of its local clientele.

But its demolition would still be a sad sight, said one veteran resident.

Les White, 75, of Mulberry Grove, has been living in the area since the mid-1960s, and has fond memories of the pub as it used to be.

He said: “It’s been rubbish for quite a number of years. You have to go back about 15 years since it was a proper British pub.

“It’s deteriorated, they got the wrong people in there, and they never spent enough money on the place. It looked a dump.

“So many pubs are shutting now. It’s the way things are going.

“It’s got a long history, but it’s not protected in any shape or form.

“It is sad. We used to go there for Sunday meals, and you’d have to book in advance. But it deteriorated down and down and down.”

What’s more, he said it would leave just one other pub in Rodbourne Cheney – The Manor.

A spokesman from Punch Taverns, which owns the pub, said: “It is never our intention to deprive a community of its resource. “However, a number of options had been explored around the future of the Rodbourne Arms, including us seeking an appropriate operator to run the site. “We have a duty to ensure that our pubs create an acceptable level of return for our licensees and shareholders.

“Unfortunately, the level of investment required for this venue would mean a return for shareholders that the projected sales in this pub cannot support. “A decision was therefore taken to market the pub for sale. A sale completed on February 23 2011. “ Mr White said the demise of Rodbourne Arms taught a simple lesson to communities: “It’s like anything else: if you want to keep it you’ve got to use it.”

A demolition order has already been granted for the Rodbourne Arms.

But Farm Foods – which has 300 stores across the country and is continuing to expand – which bought the site and closed the pub around eight weeks ago, said it will not execute this until it gets planned permission for its new store.

In the meantime, the pub has been “soft-stripped” – had all its valuables removed – and sealed against intruders.

It comes after thieves ravaged the property, stealing lead, copper and even the electric meters.

There is no date for the plans to come before the council’s planning committee.

A date will be set once the consultation ends on April 19.

To have your say on the plans email sbcdc@swindon.gov.uk