More than 1,500 Bream residents signed shopkeepers’ petitions opposing the previous plan to convert the Rising Sun’s letting area to a convenience store, which Forest planners rejected last November.

Landlords Jan and Peter Coates, who have been at the pub for 14 years, switched tack by applying for permission to turn the space into a bar and function room capable of hosting large groups, which has now been approved.

Their application to convert five bedrooms and a storage area described the move as “in accordance with the wealth of local public opinion” in the 3,800-strong village over the previous plan.

The scheme also includes a new foyer opening onto the car park at the back of the High Street premises, which campaigners succeeded in getting declared a community asset in February.

West Dean Parish Council, who strongly opposed the Co-op store scheme, welcomed the new plan, but expressed concern that the parking space in the car park was “inadequate” for potentially up to 180 customers.

Bream butcher Andy James, who has run his High Street business for 30 years just yards from the pub, welcomed the change of plan, saying: “It’s dead now, the Co-op scheme, which is great for village traders. It would have ruined my business, a Co-op being opened from 6am to 10pm. It’s lifted a shadow, and we can all move on now.

“And as it’s Bream’s only pub, it’s good news that the rest of the building is going to support the business by providing extra pub and eating facilities.”

Mr and Mrs Coates and developers Medinbrand Ltd previously wanted to convert and extend the pub’s former B&B area to lease a 185sq m retail space to the Co-op.

But planners rejected the scheme on highway safety grounds over traffic entering and exiting the site at the top of the hill, and said the single storey flat-roofed extension had “no regard to the scale and character of the original building and represents an incongruous and obtrusive extension.”

Shopkeepers who opposed the plan said a Co-op store would drive many of the village’s independent traders out of business.

Family Shopper store owner Pauline Hutchence said at the time: “There’s just not enough footfall to sustain another retail store in Bream, and it’s in a dangerous position on the high street, on the brow of a hill on a blind bend, just down from the school.”