The Cross Keys at Kinnerley has been a drinking establishment for hundreds of years, but was forced to close last month after a fire caused smoke damage.

The owner, a developer from the Midlands, had applied for planning permission to build four houses on the car park and garden, which was rejected in May.

He has now applied to build on just the garden and has given notice to change the use of the pub to housing. Robert Dapling, chairman of the Cross Keys Action Committee, set up to save the pub, said the developer did not  seem to appreciate the value of the pub as a village amenity.

He said: “The pub is an extremely old building and we have succeeded in getting it Grade II listed. The pub and garden has also been declared a community asset. Both these make development more difficult but nonetheless we are very concerned about the future of our pub, which is a very important part of the village. Pubs are disappearing from communities all around the country and in the past few years we have already lost two pubs within four miles of Kinnerley.”

The developer has submitted a planning application to Shropshire Council for a change of use of the pub into three three-bedroom homes and to build a four-bedroom house with detached garage in the grounds.

Planning officials are expected to make a decision by the middle of February unless the matter is sent to the council’s planning committee to be decided by councillors. The developer has also said he would like to sell the building. In response Kinnerley Parish Council registered it as a community asset, giving local people six months to raise the cash to be able to buy it.

That time ran out on Christmas Day, meaning the owner is now free to put the pub up for sale on the open market.

John Dyson, a member of the action group, said: “The pub is an essential part of village life and the loss of such an asset would strike right at the heart of Kinnerley – not least because of its situation in the centre of the village.”

A public meeting will be held in Kinnerley Village Hall on January 19.