ANOTHER Croydon pub is set to be converted into a supermarket, the Advertiser can reveal.
Bradford-based supermarket chain Morrisons is currently seeking planning permission to take over the Red Deer in Brighton Road.
It also hopes to sell alcohol from 7am at the premises, which is just under a mile from historic watering hole the Swan and Sugar-loaf, which last year controversially became a Tesco store.
Linda Arthur, secretary of the South Croydon Business Association, told the Advertiser the situation made her "blood boil".
"I think the closure of the Red Deer would be a grave mismanagement of our heritage," she said.
"Bringing in all these supermarkets just creates violence on our streets because of pre-drinking, it really makes my blood boil.
"It's all very well accepting that we would rather have a Tesco than an empty shell of a building, as with the Swan and Sugar-loaf, but the Red Deer is a different matter.
"The place has not closed; it's been forced out of business. It's not good to do this to the area; it doesn't diversify businesses.
"Now it seems to be all about the big businesses and ignoring the smaller ones."
South End post office owner Pushar Patel was also concerned by the news.
He said: "The Tesco has opened literally across the road from me, and of course it has affected my business, and the new Morrisons will as well. All the people that signed the petition and did the campaigns, well now they're the ones using the Tesco, and to be honest I can't blame them. Every corner you turn there is a supermarket. The Red Deer closure is a tragedy for the area."
Morrisons refused to comment on its plans this week.
A spokesman said: "I think we'll wait until we're further down the line to comment."
Town Centre Inns, which owns the Red Deer, also refused to comment.
The news comes as Croydon's London Assembly member, Steve O'Connell, launched a campaign to save the capital's pubs and called for councils to adopt stringent criteria when considering their redevelopment or demolition.
But he refused to pledge his support to the Red Deer, saying: "The report doesn't mean we resist every single conversion, so I want to understand what the community feel about the pub and if I feel the community has a strong use for the pub I will for it.
"But I need to do more research, it's a brilliant building but at the moment I don't know what the feeling is in the community.
"If people really don't want it I will be resisting Morrisons."
