A FORMER pub in Malvern Link could be developed as housing.

J Frazier Ltd, of Cranmore Industrial Estate, Shirley, Solihull, has submitted an application for listed building consent for the old Royal Oak, at 355 Worcester Road.

The plan involves converting the pub building itself into three apartments. A pair of semi-detached houses would be built next to the pub, fronting on to Worcester Road.

A terrace of three houses and two chalet bungalows would be built on the rest of the site, behind the pub. The existing skittle alley and storage building would be demolished.

The Royal Oak, a Grade II listed building, has been boarded up since its closure, some two years ago.

William Frazier, for the developers, said: "The site has become an eyesore and it clearly had no future as a pub, so we would like to develop it in keeping with its surroundings."

He said the houses and apartments would be marketed at retired people, would contain the latest safety features and the grounds would be managed.

He said: "We have spoken to all the neighbours and they all seem to be in favour of it."

The same company also developed the former gas depot in Moorlands Road a couple of years ago.

The Royal Oak is the third pub to be lost to the Link within ten years. In 1991, the Fir Tree, in Worcester Road, closed its doors for the last time and was subsequently transformed into a shopping arcade.

And the Carpenter's Arms, Lower Howsell Road, was demolished to make way for a controversial proposed residential development, which has not yet been resolved.

Elsewhere in Malvern, the Fountain Inn, Court Road, closed down and later became a children's nursery.

The Langland Arms, in Pickersleigh Road, was under threat of closure and redevelopment in 1999, but was reprieved.