A DEVELOPER will fight to transform a former Old Windsor pub into housing after the council refused its plans.

The Jolly Gardener pub in St Lukes Road was in danger of being converted into two homes via single-storey extensions with an additional house built next to it on unused land.

But due to concerns highlighted by residents and Old Windsor parish council, which created a campaign called ‘save the Jolly Gardeners,’ Royal Borough planning officers refused the scheme.

READ MORE: Inside £1,250,000 property in Burnham

They objected to the scheme as the site sits within a high probability of flooding, the design of the homes look ‘cramped,’ and residents feared they would lose a valuable and historic community asset – which dates back to 1854.

Old Windsor councillor Lynne Jones even ‘called in’ the application to be determined by members sitting on the Windsor and Ascot development management panel if officers were minded to approve the scheme.

READ MORE: The flood defence plan that would have protected four Windsor villages

But pub company Punch said the Jolly Gardner was in ‘decline’ and the business was ‘unviable’ due to eight pubs being within a one-mile radius of the property which impacted the Old Windsor pub’s hardship.

They also said this alternative use will make the site ‘viable’ again. Punch has appealed the council’s decision in a bid to overturn the refusal if an independent planning inspector sides with them.