Historic pub's demolition plan sparks fury amid fears heritage being 'destroyed'

A NATIONAL heritage group has stepped into a row over the planned demolition of a 19th century Flintshire pub. The Black Horse in Buckley is regarded as one of the town's last few remaining historic buildings.

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE Countryside and Tourism Editor

Built in the early 1800s, originally as a hotel, the pub closed on March 3 this year. Two months later, planning consent was sought to demolish the building and to replace it with a modern convenience store and 13 parking spaces.

As the building has distinctive banded brickwork and eye-catching checkered chimney stacks, the idea prompted anger among residents fearing the loss of a much-loved landmark. However the pub isn't listed and it doesn't lie in a conservation area.

SAVE Britain's Heritage, which campaigns for the reuse of historic sites, has now begun lobbying for the building's retention. The London-based charity said it "strongly objects" to the "total erasure" of one of the few reminders of Buckley's pottery and brick-making past.

By the early 19th century, there were 14 potteries and 25 brickworks in the town and the name Buckley was synonymous with high-quality production. In recent years the biggest of its former brickworks has been converted into a dramatic-looking nature reserve centred around its old clay pits.