AN MP has joined the fight to save the last remaining pub on a Stockton estate from closure.

Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, is backing the campaign to save the Sheraton pub on Stockton's Hardwick Estate, along with local councillors Nigel Cooke and Norma Stephenson.

The pub is on the verge of being sold by owners Trust Inns to a private nursery company and a Facebook campaign to save it has already attracted more than 920 followers.

Campaigners held a public meeting last week to discuss the issue. It is understood that Rosedene Nurseries wants to convert the pub into a nursery, following the closure of the nursery at the nearby University Hospital of North Tees.

Mr Cunningham called on Stockton Council to reject any application to remove the covenant on the Sheraton pub which would stop it being converted for any alternative use.

There have been no planning applications yet to convert it into a nursery, but the covenant restricts the use of premises to a pub and the council can refuse to lift the covenant, meaning the project would not go ahead.

Residents of the Hardwick estate are upset that a previous pub closed down - and now the last one could be lost too.

Mr Cunningham said that Lynne D'Arcy, managing director of Trust Inns, had confirmed to him that the pub had been sold, subject to contract, although it had not been on the company's list of premises to be sold.

Residents are also concerned about a new nursery adding to traffic congestion, which is already bad with parents taking children to two local schools and people using the hospital.

Mr Cunningham said: “Developers and the local authority have invested millions of pounds to redevelop Hardwick Estate and it would be a major blow to local people to lose their last community pub.

"Whilst I appreciate there is a need for increased nursery provision in the area, sacrificing the last pub in the area is not the way to meet it."

He asked Trust Inns to reconsider its decision to close the Sheraton.

Resident Mikey Garris said: "If the alleged plans go ahead this will have a disastrous effect on the community.

"For nearly 50 years people have used the Sheraton as an escape to unwind after work and as a meeting point for friends, families and for people to socialise.

"The Sheraton has given so many memories over the years, from weddings, to birthdays and christenings, to wakes. The Sheraton is not just a pub, it is our only local pub on the estate."

The Northern Echo was unable to contact anyone connected with the Sheraton.