Campaigners are afraid a beloved pub in Grove Park will shut down four years after it was saved, despite the owner insisting it will remain open.

This is due to plans, which were originally rejected by Lewisham Council, to turn land it is on into multiple flats.

Pub company Antic saved the Baring Hall Hotel, buying it and reopening it in 2013 after it was damaged in a fire.

Paul Ross is helping to lead the local campaign against the development with the Grove Park Neighbourhood Forum.

He said: “If people [value] public houses, venues for comedy and live music, and places where communities can meet, then we ask you sign our petition in resistance.

“That any development of such a historic, and potentially important building, should go to public consultation. It should put the pub at the heart of any plans for the area, without it, it's sunk.

“On one level this is about a pub, good food and community spirit. But on another it’s about local services and ambitious developers. This could happen to any local pub.”

Lewisham Council rejected the original plans in 2016, saying the designs were “unsympathetic to the historic character” of the Baring Hall Hotel, but an appeal has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

Anthony Thomas, owner of Antic, said: “We bought it to save the pub but right from start we intended to develop the ground at the back of the pub to help pay for it.

“We need to develop the land around the pub to make it viable. We have lost money there every year but we love it and want to keep it open.”

The final date for people to submit comments and statements for or against the development is October 16. You can make a statement on the Planning Inspectorate website.