A plan to knock down a Herefordshire country pub and replace it with new business units and a gospel hall has been given the go-ahead.

Hereford Gospel Trust applied last autumn to redevelop land at Tram Inn, Allensmore beside the Hereford-Pontrilas railway line to the southwest of the city.

The pub which gives the small settlement its name closed around 15 years ago, was unsuccessfully advertised for sale between 2020 and 2022, and is now in a poor state of repair, the application said.

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A car repairs and bodywork garage alongside the pub, which ceased trading three years ago, is also to be demolished under the proposal.

The new single-storey hall, on what had been the pub car park, is to be used for worship by south Hereford Brethren community.

A “strong” objection from Hereford resident Jeffrey Hancorn said the Tram Inn “is a community asset and as such should remain as a public house”, though he was something of a lone voice on this.

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“I find the suggestion that there is any need of a place of worship at Allensmore frankly comparable to something of a fantasy,” he added.

Local property services firm Sidney Phillips also objected to the proposal, saying it had a local client who was “more than willing” to buy and reopen the pub. But this offer of £200,000 was twice rejected as being too low.

Planning officer Elsie Morgan concluded that, with “suitable alternative pub premises in the locality”, there had been “limited public concern at the loss of the pub”.

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Other higher offers, made with a view to turning it into a business premises or home, had also been rejected, she noted.

She considered there would be “economic and social value associated with the proposed mixed use of the site”, which has “an established commercial use”.

Full planning permission for the proposal was granted.