THE Herefordshire Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has criticised plans to convert a city pub into a Tesco Express.

The supermarket giant has bought the lease of the former Buckingham Inn in Hereford and has set the wheels in motion to turn the site into a convenience store - creating up to 20 jobs.

The Buckingham, on Whitecross Road, will go the same way as the Game Cock pub in Hinton after the latter was converted into a Tesco Express in 2010.

Applications for minor works to be undertaken at the store will be submitted to Herefordshire Council's planners within the next few weeks and it is anticipated that the new store will open by the end of the year.

Mark Haslam, from Herefordshire Camra, said that it is a shame that the county has lost another pub.

He added: "A planning loophole means that pubs can be converted without planning permission, therefore there are no safeguards in place that allow the community to be consulted and a pub's viability is irrelevant."