A LANDLADY has rubbished rumours her pub is to be knocked down to make way for flats.

Suzanne Gray, landlady of the Monico pub on Canvey’s Eastern Esplanade, said the pub would stay despite the developers preparing to build 46 flats next door.

Hoardings have recently been put around the former site of the casino in a bid to keep out flytippers, sparking rumours work is about to begin on the controversial development.

Developers Dedman Gray said they hoped to start work on building the flats in September.

Mrs Gray said: “I have had lots of people asking what’s happening and thinking we are going to be knocked down.

“Customers and even people I don’t know have been stopping me in the street and asking what is going to happen.

“I had a bride who has her wedding reception booked upset because she thought she was going to have to find a new venue.

“But we are here to stay, we are not going to be turned into flats. We are part of the community.”

The old casino was knocked down in 1993. The 46 flats have been in the pipeline since 2004.

Castle Point Council turned down the original application on the grounds that the land was earmarked to be used for leisure purposes, not housing.

Developers Dedman Planning and Regeneration won planning permission on appeal and sold the site to Homestead and Histonwood for £590,000 in November last year.

Three blocks of flats will be built towards the back of the site along its border with Lovens Close.

A further two blocks will be built at the front with retail premises on the ground floor that could be used as shops, cafes, takeaways or for leisure services.

A spokesman for achitects Brian Davison said: “Hoardings were put up because the site was attracting flytippers. ”