WITH the third application having just been turned down for the conversion of part of The Queens, in Selborne, into homes, the pub building’s future is looking uncertain as East Hampshire planners say, at present, things seem to have come to a halt.

They confirmed this week that they are waiting to see if the developer, Derek Warwick Developments in Winchester, will submit a new plan for the building, which has been a hostelry since the 1500s.

The building - a landmark in the village which has been empty for more than three years - is looking in need of some tender loving care.

The entrance to the barn and the hotel, which was gutted inside, has been fenced off to prevent the public entering the old hotel; while opinion is still divided as to what should happen to the building.

The application is the third to be refused. The first application was submitted after the hotel closed down when the developer, having bought the building from Punch Taverns, put in an application to turn it into six residential units, consisting of five two-bedroom apartments and the conversion of the barn into a three-bedroom apartment.

The developer also promised to get rid of the Japanese knotweed found in part of the garden.

The application prompted public meetings at which residents put forward arguments for and against saving or converting the hotel - the only one to provide accommodation for the tourists who flock to the village in the spring and summer.

Those supporting it felt the apartments would be a good use of an unused building, good environmentally for residents and would breathe life back into the village.

Objectors did not want to see the loss of “a significant building”, which had served the village for many years and was once visited by the Prince of Wales as well as attracting tourists from all over the world who come to visit the South Downs National Park.

A village resident said at the time: “Selborne needs at least two pubs.”

Others feared the development would alter the view of the village from The Wakes, which sits behind the 18th-century home of naturalist Gilbert White and also houses The Oates Collections. Lawrence Oates died with Robert Scott on their fatal expedition to the South Pole in 1912.

At the time, Selborne Parish Council objected because it would mean the loss of a landmark building and councillors felt that the developer had aimed the marketing of the building towards residential rather than retail, pointing out that the pub’s large reception area and dining room had been a social asset and the hotel had brought increased economy to the village.

At the meeting chairman Dr Lynne Ravenscroft said: “The Queens was a very social place and a good one for holding meetings as the village hall isn’t always big enough, and it is the only hotel in the village.”

Since then, two more applications have had the thumbs down by both parish and district-council planners - one to demolish the single-storey wing fronting the main road, which had been the restaurant, and the second to build a house on the site of the wing.

Villagers still do not know what will be the outcome of any further application for the distinctive white building, which the previous landlords, Nicholas Montlake and Erick Chobert, transformed into an elegant place to stay and introduced a French bistro-themed restaurant as they had done at their restaurant in Antigua.

Diners were treated to Mr Montlake playing the piano while they ate. The landlords even invited people to take their horses to the pub, if they wanted, as there is a field behind the hotel’s large garden.

East Hampshire district councillor David Ashcroft, who sits on the planning committee and is also a Selborne parish councillor, said: “The Queens has become a bit of an eyesore as it has not been used for some time.

“I know a lot of people who still have a fondness for it, so have I. I did dine there and I did support it but sadly a lot of people didn’t and when you don’t business stops.

“I know there is a move to make it a community asset but who is going to pay? Also who is going to run it? I sit on the district-council planning committee and I haven’t seen any applications for new pubs so that must show a lack of demand.

“I would like to see someone have a word with the developers and ask them what their next plans are.

“You can’t turn the clock back and this parrot is dead.

“So let us have something that is an asset to the village and, with the tourist season about to start, people will see the building with ‘the sale’ sign and planning applications turned down again and that is the wrong message to give out.”

The hotel’s history stretches back at least to the 16th century and the first mention of it was in 1577 - in a list of drinking places or “tipplers”. Soldiers on their way to fight the Armada, in 1588, could stop there at a time when it was known as The Goat and Compasses.

The first recorded landlord was John Skinner in 1618 and another landlord was Robert Holdaway who, in 1834, was the leader of the famous Workhouse Riots in the village. After his arrest and trial, he was was transported to Australia. A few years later, in 1837, the hotel was re-named The Queen’s Arms in honour of Queen Victoria’s succession to the throne although there is no record she ever came to visit.