MORE than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling for a popular Barnsley pub to be saved from demolition.
Plans to close and then flatten the Kings Head on Darton Lane, Mapplewell, and replace it with a Sainsbury's store went before the council's planning board last Tuesday.
The decision has been deferred for a site visit.
Punch Taverns, who own the site, says it plans to close the pub - even if its application to redevelop the site is rejected.
Regular Stuart Branchflower, 64, lives just down the road and said the pub is "thriving".
He presented a 1,000-strong petition to the council calling for the pub to be saved.
"It's a proper pub, not one of those pubs where all they're bothered about is serving food," he said. "It did have a bit of a dip in trade under the last landlord but a new team at the pub has turned all that around.
"Sainsbury's intend to flatten our local in order to build another supermarket which the village neither wants nor needs."
Sainsbury's say if the plans are approved they will develop a 4,000 sq ft Local store with around 20 car parking spaces and a cash machine.
The store, they say, would also create up to 20 full and part-time jobs.
A spokesman said: "A new Sainsbury's will benefit Mapplewell and its shoppers by providing additional choice, regenerating the site and helping to support the vibrancy of the local shopping area."
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