Pub demolition begins

A traditional pub, once the base for one of Telford's top Sunday League football teams, is being reduced to a pile of rubble.

The Champion Jockey pub, Wrekin Drive, Donnington, could soon make way for a £2 million supermarket.

See our photo gallery here and read the full story in today's Shropshire Star

Bosses from Netto will submit a planning application in the next few weeks and are hoping to win approval from Telford & Wrekin Council.

Meanwhile, demolition men have already moved in and will have the site flattened within a week.

Specialists from Nottingham-based Southwold Demolition are using a grabbing machine, nicknamed Rubber Duck, with a huge hydraulic jaw to nibble away at the structure.

Foreman Ian Cunningham said: "We've been stripping out the interior over the past week and started knocking down the building yesterday.

"There's a two-storey pub, with living quarters above, built about 40 years ago, plus a single-storey function room. We'll be recycling the aggregates by crushing the bricks and concrete into rubble and using that to backfill the cellar."

Pensioner Allan Baxter, 70, of Wrekin Drive, who used to be chairman of the now folded Champion Jockey football team, said: "It's the end of an era.

"I spent many a happy hour drinking there. And as a football team we used to do many things there for charity, as well as having club meetings and presentation evenings.

"I started drinking there 40 years ago when I relocated to Donnington after leaving the King's Shropshire Light Infantry."

Netto hopes to open the supermarket next year, creating 20 jobs, if planning permission is given.