High hopes pub can be saved

Sherry Rawlins said her confidence had been raised after her first meeting with a representative of the developer which could bulldoze The Lamb.

The pub's site in Steyne Street is on the very edge of the Hothamton redevelopment planned by St Modwen.

The company's latest proposals show the building, which dates from the 19th century, being replaced by three trees.

Mrs Rawlins and her husband, Andrew, have joined their alarmed

regulars to fight a campaign to stop the demolition.

Part of this effort included a meeting last Friday, February 22, with Garry Morris, the senior development manager at St Modwen.

Mrs Rawlins said Mr Morris had taken the campaign into account and would ask the company's architects if The Lamb could be spared.

"We should have a final response inside a month so we shall await the next decision before we continue with the campaign to the degree I have planned," she stated.

"I guess there is a 50:50 chance, which isn't as bleak as it was at the outset."

St Modwen's plans for the Hothamton site, off the Queensway, include a 30-storey tower block of 180 flats, 25,000sq ft of offices, a food store for a national retailer and a possible new health centre.