PLANS to house sex offenders and other criminals in a central Swindon bail hostel have run into a seemingly immovable obstacle a local pub landlady.

Margaret Byrne, 54, is refusing to sell the White House her pub in Corporation Street to the Wiltshire Probation Service, despite being offered £665,000 for the site.

Her stance looks certain to ruin the service's plans to open the controversial 24-bed unit by the middle of next year.

The probation service sparked outrage among residents when it announced in February that it was negotiating to buy the site and build the all-male hostel there.

It said it would not necessarily prevent sex offenders, paedophiles or burglars from living at the hostel, despite its proposed location just yards from family homes.

The plans have already provoked a 1,200-signature petition, a placard-waving demonstration led by the Broad Street Community Council, and protests at Swindon Council meetings.

But Mrs Byrne insisted she had never agreed to sell the site to the probation service, and would not be doing so in future.

"No, I'm not selling for a bail hostel," she said. "I've still got to live in this town."

Instead, she said she wanted to forge ahead with her own plans to build 28 flats on the pub site a scheme that won planning permission from Swindon Council last year.

"I'm going to build flats at my own convenience, but it won't be for up to two years yet," she said.

"They (the probation service) want another meeting this week to resolve issues, but I'm not going.

"I don't really want a bail hostel there, to be honest."

Mrs Byrne said she had been surprised the probation service had gone public with its plans for the site before she had agreed to sell.

But she said their announcement, and the protests and media attention that followed, had led to a drop in business at the pub.

She says that before the hostel announcement her function room was regularly booked for events like wedding receptions and birthday parties.

But she said she had not had any bookings since January because people had assumed the pub was closed. She is now offering the function room free for the next three months.

"I'm cross, because all this has cost us a lot of money," Mrs Byrne said. "People haven't been booking because they thought we had gone."

The probation service's chief officer in Wiltshire, Diana Fulbrook, meanwhile reacted with surprise to Mrs Byrne's announcement.

"We have an initial contractual agreement with the vendor and this is the first indication we have had that she has changed her mind," she said.

"We are therefore extremely surprised and would want to seek to clarify in a professional way exactly where the vendor stands regarding the possible sale of this site.

"If the vendor feels she has to withdraw from this sale, we would be very disappointed.

"We have continued to search for alternative suitable sites throughout and are pursuing other options as they become available."

But councillor for the Corporation Street area and a leading opponent of the hostel scheme, John Taylor (Lab, Central), described Mrs Byrne's announcement as "fantastic news."

"The people of Central Ward will be delighted to hear this news and very, very pleased that restrained action by residents has been recognised in this decision," he said.