SICK and elderly people are having to leave their homes to make way for pubs and wine bars in a suburb already crammed with nightspots.

Up to 80 pensioners have been given 20 days to move out of three private nursing homes in Jesmond, Newcastle.

The buildings will be converted into clubs and pubs in an area that has become popular for drinkers.

The White House, Jesmond Nursing Home and Avondale Residential Home are all being sold off.

The White House and Avondale are believed to have already been sold to leisure groups, while Jesmond Nursing Home has been put on the market.

Alan Coleman, whose 76-year-old mother suffers from Alzheimer's disease and is in the White House, said: "They are upsetting my mother and many other elderly residents for the sake of a trendy wine bar. It's disgraceful."

Newcastle Central MP Jim Cousins said: "This is an extremely brutal thing to happen and could well have unfortunate consequences for the elderly people involved."

Dennis Crozier, owner of Jesmond Nursing Home, said: "If the funding had been in place I would not have to sell up.

"Since the new National Care Homes Standards were introduced we have not been able to cope financially and the home just isn't making any money any more."