A HISTORIC pub which was once popular for its fine dining is threatened with demolition.

The Fat Goose in Tendring Village closed just before Christmas and now there are plans to replace it with three four-bed houses and a shop.

Ward councillors say the pub’s owners will have to prove continued pub use is unviable.

CAMRA has also raised the prospect of a campaign to “Save the Fat Goose.”

Plans submitted to Tendring Council this month call for the demolition of the pub, which in places dates back to 1760.

The application is in the name of Fat Goose Property Developments Ltd of Watford. Government records list Patrick James Vanderhyde of Waterlooville, Hampshire, as director.

Further records show the property on Heath Road was marketed last year for £350,000 but sold for £475,000.

Planning agent Paul Seagar said: “The Fat Goose failed for a number of years. Various people have tried to make it work. Its location hasn’t helped.

“It’s stuck out there, out of the way. It wasn’t just a pub. It functioned as a restaurant as well because it couldn’t work as a pub.”

Southend-based Mr Seagar, of APS Design Associates, said efforts had been made to sell the pub as a going concern had failed and the building was now in a poor state and needed much investment.

“Who is going to invest without knowing it’s going to work?”

The agent said in pre-application discussions with Tendring Council, the idea of a community facility was mooted, leading to the convenience store.

He added: “The idea is we develop the rest of the site for housing. The last property would be accommodation for people living over the convenience store. This would give a valuable asset to the community. There’s not many convenience stores around. It’s on a main road. It could be successful. That’s how we have approached it”

However, Ed Loach, pub campaigns director of Tendring CAMRA, said his group would need to see the plans. Its committee would also see if it they could apply to make the pub an asset of community value to try save it.

He added: “It was a fine pub and restaurant that sold local beers.”

Ward councillor Alan Coley said he would raise the application with Tendring Parish Council, calling it “a shame the Fat Goose couldn’t maintain itself as a going concern concern.”He recalled: “It was a proper restaurant many people went to.

“It was well patronised by local people. We were shocked when it closed.

“I would hope it will open as a pub or restaurant.”

However, Carlo Guglielmi, a fellow ward councillor and deputy leader of Tendring Council, said the pub had been empty for some time.

“The application will have to demonstrate to the planners that they have undertook a meaningful marketing campaign that has been exhausted.”

Mr Guglielmi hadn’t spoken to Tendring Parish Council about the application either, but would tell them “to reinstate a shop for the village is a good thing to have.”