WORK has begun to demolish a dilapidated pub near a busy junction in Wyke to allow nine homes to be built on the site.

Westmoreland Homes gained planning permission for the former Westfield Hotel at the junction of Whitehall Road and Westfield Lane towards the end of last year.

The pub had been empty for more than three years and had fallen into a dilapidated state.

Prior to closing in 2015, the pub was called Harry's Carvery and it was among 18 food businesses in the Bradford area to be given a hygiene rating of zero by environmental health inspectors

The developer has now begun the demolition process, with scaffolding and meshing appearing on the Whitehall Road side of the building.

Machinery can be seen at the back of the building, taking it down from the car park side.

In a design and access statement accompanying the plans, Westmoreland Homes states: “The existing Westfield Hotel building is in disrepair and is not suitable for conversion.

“The proposal to demolish the building and replace with a residential development will improve the site and street scene, improve the outlook of the existing adjacent houses and increase the number of quality homes in the area by redeveloping a brownfield site.”

The scheme involves seven terraced town houses and a pair of semi-detached buildings.

Ina report planners at Kirklees Council detailed how the properties were two storey with pitched roofs and that most of the properties fronted on to Whitehall Road.

At the time there were concerns from local residents and councillors about the existing access so close to a busy junction.

But highways officer believed a residential development would generate fewer vehicle movements than a pub.

The start of demolition work comes as another pub, this time at nearby Hartshead Moor is almost completely demolished.

The Old Pack Horse Inn at Highmoor Lane in Hartshead Moor is in the process of being razed to the ground by local developer Adam Cook of Elite Habitat Ltd.

Once complete work will then begin to build five new homes on the prominent site.

Mr Cook told the Telegraph & Argus that the building was in a state of disrepair when his company bought it, with water damage resulting in the floors having caved in after the roof had been stolen.

It would have cost in excess of half a million to bring the dilapidated pub back into use.