Action must be taken now on an “eyesore” Newcastle pub that has been derelict for more than a decade, council bosses have demanded.

The Trap, in Coxlodge, shut down in 2009 and has fallen into an increasingly dilapidated state ever since.

Its roof had to be removed earlier this year due to fears that it could collapse and Newcastle City Council says it has now ordered that the Kenton Road building must now either be restored or completely demolished.

Fawdon and West Gosforth councillor Rob Austin told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that he was “surprised that it is still standing” after 15 years in which The Trap has increasingly become a target for vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

The Liberal Democrat said he would “love to see it demolished and turned into some kind of green space that the community can benefit from”.

He added: “It has been an eyesore for the last 15 years, I remember I was still a kid when it closed down and I’m 29 now. We keep getting told what is going to happen to it and that it is going to be demolished, but it just hasn’t happened.

“Every day we get emails from residents asking what is going on and why it can’t just be torn down. If this was a different area of Newcastle, it would not have been allowed to go on this long.”

The building’s owner, Humauyan Choudhury, bought the site in 2008 and has had multiple planning applications to redevelop the land for housing or a restaurant rejected, with the most recent refusal being for eight townhouses.

He told the LDRS that he would soon be submitting revised plans for six houses and hopes to sell the site to a property developer once planning permission is secured.

Mr Choudhury said: “It is a derelict building and we are about to demolish it, but I am getting prices quoted at me from people who want £40,000 or £50,000 – I just don’t have that kind of money, so I am trying to find someone who can do it a bit cheaper.

“I am not trying to build a skyscraper there, I am just trying to get through a pretty run of the mill development – but it keeps getting refused by the council. It costs me £2,000 a month to have that site and that has been the case for 15 years.” 

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Newcastle City Council confirmed that it has now given Mr Choudhury 90 days to act before the local authority steps in itself to make the building safe.

A council spokesperson said: “Due to the dangerous nature of this building we took enforcement action against the owners resulting in the removal of the roof. Since then, it has deteriorated further so we have issued the owners with another notice requiring restoration or complete demolition.

“The owner has 90 days to complete the works. Failure to do so will result in us taking legal action enabling us to make the building safe in the owner’s default and then recover the costs from the owner. The council has a duty to ensure public safety and we will not hesitate to use all powers at our disposal to discharge that duty.”