ALDI is still keen to bring 40 new jobs to Dudley by building a new supermarket on the site of an unsightly former pub.

Dudley planners refused permission to demolish the boarded up King Arthur pub on Priory Road to make way for a new store in November last year as designs for the building had not been produced.

The discount retailer has now submitted detailed plans to the council, which would see the pub, turned into a 1,000 sq ft store with a car park to cater for 94 vehicles.

Councillor Alan Finch who represents Castle and Priory, described the pub, which is prominent on the main Birmingham New Road into Dudley town centre, as an "eyesore".

He said it was "fantastic" that Aldi still wished to go ahead with the plan as people had started to worry that there had been no news since last year.

He continued: "My phone hasn't stopped ringing with people asking what is happening about Aldi, I've had no negative comments.

"I shall be very disappointed if it gets rejected as the pub is an eyesore at the moment and needs cleaning up."

Cllr Finch added: "I think this is what Castle and Priory needs. It will be a breath of fresh air."

However not everyone is keen to see the building, which is locally listed as a heritage asset, bulldozed.

Geoff Blackham, publicity officer for the Sedgley Local History Society, has submitted a letter of objection to the council, stating that the pub was "an important historical link marking urbanisation between the two World Wars".

He made reference to The Strait's House in Sedgley being converted into apartments and said sympathetic redevelopment of the King Arthur pub would be "quite feasible" and "a great opportunity to build on the past, not destroy it".

The application will be put before the council's Development Control Committee in the coming weeks.