SUPPORTERS of a closed Lower Withington pub are celebrating a partial victory this week, having succeeded in a bid to register the 250-year-old building as an asset of community value.

The Friends of the Black Swan action group, which wants to reopen the pub, was granted the ACV by Cheshire East Council this week, having had an initial application rebuffed earlier this year.

ACV status means that the Friends and CEC would have to be informed of any attempt to sell the property by the current owners, with the Friends then given six months to prepare a bid.

The Trap Street pub is currently the subject of a planning application involving its demolition ahead of the construction of five homes in a courtyard design.

David Morrow of the Friends group said: “The clock is ticking on this time bomb and our focus now is on persuading the CEC planners to reject not only this application but indeed any attempt to demolish the Black Swan.

“We can best do this by asking anyone who wants to preserve this pub for locals and those who travel from further afield to lodge their objections on the planning section of the CEC website.”

A planning statement said: “This application seeks the appropriate re-use of existing brownfield land that currently lies vacant surrounded by pockets of small residential dwellings.

“This development will provide much-needed housing to the borough through the introduction of five, five-bedroom, well-built and appropriately designed residential units ... maintaining the historic fabric.”

The Friends say that the pub’s heritage, economic and social role are ‘irreplaceable’.

Comments can be made on the application, reference number 17/3113M, until Tuesday, August 8.

A decision is due from CEC on August 16.