PLANS to turn a former Upton pub into a care home for the elderly have been abandoned by brewery chiefs.

The Hall and Woodhouse brewery has worked for the past couple of years to seal a deal that would have seen the Greenridge pub, which has sat derelict for more than three years, redeveloped as a care home.

However, citing poor economic conditions – particularly in the care home sector – brewery boss Anthony Woodhouse has now announced this dream is over.

“With no future sale on the horizon and in view of the condition of the property we have applied for planning consent to demolish the former Greenridge public house and will commence demolition as soon as consent has been granted,” he said.

Purbeck District Council planners granted permission for a care home on the site in February, last year.

The care home company working with the Blandford-based brewery was due to take over the site in December – but with another dire economic year predicted they eventually pulled out of the deal.

Mr Woodhouse said: “We had hoped to have sold the site by now and development to have commenced.

“However, the care home sector is under particular pressure and unfortunately operators are no longer seeking new build sites – preferring to acquire existing care homes as part of ‘distressed’ sales from other operators.”

Hall and Woodhouse believe the existing planning consent for the site is no longer saleable, and admit future options for the Greenridge are now ‘unlikely to include a care home element’.

Mr Woodhouse said: “We will be meeting with Purbeck District Council shortly to table our ideas for development and are focused on working towards a viable future for the site as soon as possible.”