CONCERNED residents living on the Broadmead estate have rallied together to start a campaign group to stop the sell-off of the Wiltshire Yeoman pub over fears it could be turned into housing.

Greene King, which owns the Chilmark Road pub, put the public house on the market last month due to it being “less sustainable” than its other properties.

But locals who regularly enjoy a beverage at the pub have said it would be their worst nightmare if it was sold to housing developers.

John Martin, 58, of Barnack Close, who is spearheading the campaign group, said: The 58-year-old said: “A few of us saw the piece in the paper and we have been following it up and saw offers have been made but none at the asking price. At least two of them are developers, we understand, and one is another Trowbridge landlord.

“It is the only pub we have got this side of town and if you wanted to go to the next nearest one it would be a case of walking to the Boathouse or the Stallards.

“I know pubs can only survive if people use them but Our gripe is when Greene King bought out the tenancy and made it into a managed house, we told them we wanted something nice with home-cooked food and they turned it into a meet and eat.

“It is not that sort of estate and people are happy to spend more money on decent food. We don’t want two can dine for £9.99 or where a meal can be ruined by shouting people watching football on three sports televisions.”

The Save The Wiltshire Yeoman Facebook page has more than 80 members since it was created a couple of weeks ago and residents hope it will catch the eye of prospective buyers who they hope will keep the interests of locals in mind.

Mr Martin, who has lived on Broadmead since 1994, added that if the building, which isn’t listed, was sold to developers, new houses being built would change the character of the entire estate.

“A lot of the people who use it feel the same,” he said. “I was chatting to The old landlord and landlady the other day and they would do around 100 Sunday lunches and now it doesn’t do anything like that.

“The place feels very much like a template and that it has to be like other Greene King pubs. The way the pub has changed in trying to be modern has lost the character of the place and we would hate to see another pub in Trowbridge close its doors.”

To get involved with the campaign group, Visit facebook.com/groups/298762340488034 to get involved.