PLANS to demolish The Bowling Green Inn to make way for a new KFC and Starbucks have been granted as works on a “better” venue get underway.

The planning application to flatten the Hollinwood pub, submitted to Oldham Council on July 7, 2020, sparked an outcry with more than 1,500 people signing a petition to save it. Despite the fallout the application was passed on Friday, August 14.

The pub’s landlord of 15 years, Derek Lewis Middleton, has said the official closing date for The Bowling Green will be announced later this week, with the pub planning to “go out with a bang”.

The venue is currently reaching out to any acts and artists who want to play at the pub “one last time” and “make the remaining time, times to remember.”

Derek is now in the process of turning the La Via tapas bar on Railway Road, Hollinwood back into The Railway pub, with the venue set to return to its former glory by September after a complete refurbishment.

The landlord said the new free house will be “a lot better” than the brewery owned Bowling Green, with a larger variety of beers and guest ales, but the same staff, quiz nights, pub team and entertainment.

Homemade food including paninis, pizza fresh coffee and cakes will also be on offer.

A Facebook post published on The Bowling Green’s Facebook page adds that The Railway will offer “more beers” and “better prices”.

The post continues: “We intend to invest in the local community. And try to build on it, not pull it apart. We will be offering, everything the Bowling Green has to offer and much, much more.”

Plans to demolish the Bowling Green came after reports the venue, which is owned by Middleton brewery JW Lees, was deemed no longer commercially “viable”.

Planning agents insisted the loss of the pub would not greatly affect community amenities due to the proximity of the Spinners Arms and the Bridgewater Inn, which has now closed.

A spokesperson for JW Lees, said the Bowling Green had “struggled to be a viable pub business for several years” adding: “so we regrettably had to take the decision to sell the site from our pub estate”.

In a later statement the spokesperson added: “We never like to lose a pub and it is always a difficult decision to make, but on this occasion, we support the change in use and believe the proposed development, so close to the M60 and Oldham Road, will be of far greater public appeal.”