THE battle lines have been drawn to save a Halesowen pub which is on a developer's closure hit list.

Regulars at The Maypole, Bassange Road, have formed a friends group and have already met twice to discuss thwarting New River turning the pub into a supermarket.

Various community groups use the pub regularly including sports teams and a historic pigeon racing club.

Ex fire-fighter Mick Seeley, from the friends group, said: "We know what we need to do and quickly if we want to keep the Maypole as a pub.

"We do not need another supermarket and if one was built then there will be lorries coming in and out regularly at all hours."

The group is getting advice from the Friends of the Haden Cross who were the first group to get a pub listed as a community asset in Sandwell.

Haden Cross Friends chairman Tim Haskey addressed the Maypole meeting.

He said: "New River tried to build a supermarket on the car park of the Haden Cross and we successfully fought them off and have now made the pub a community asset.

"They haven’t applied to do anything with the Maypole yet but the pub needs to be listed as community asset as soon as possible.

"When a pub disappears it really is a case of "you don't know what you've got until its gone" so we need to fight to keep pubs like this open and available to the public."

The next meeting of the Friends of the Maypole is on Thursday, June 4, at 7:30pm.

In February the News published an explosive leaked Dudley Council document, which revealed New River Retail were planning to close The Hasbury Inn, The Maypole, The Round of Beef and other pubs across the borough.

New River Retail is a retail estate investment company, who bought 202 Marstons pubs, which converts pubs into shops and work in partnership with Co-operative supermarkets.