A LANDMARK building in Sale looks set to be demolished.

The council has been notified of a proposal to knock down the Sale Hotel - the last remaining piece of Sale Botanical Gardens, a Victorian pleasure park.

When approached by SAM, the applicant named on the demolition notice, J Clarkson, refused to reveal details of plans for the Marsland Road site.

But local historian George Cogswell - who has written a history of the hotel and Sale Botanical Gardens - said he feared it would be replaced by a flats complex - made up of 'little boxes of uninteresting architecture'.

The hotel was built in 1878 as a centrepiece for the botanical gardens - a major attraction that included a ballroom, gardens, lake, cycle track, lawn tennis and croquet ground, bowling green and gym.

The cycle track was used for racing - and was the first place in the country where the pneumatic tyre was used.

The botanical gardens closed in 1896 and the building was used as a pub for many years, until it closed in March.

Mr Cogswell said: "Most people I have spoken to tell me that they would be sorry to see it go and as we all know 'once it's gone - it's gone'.

"We all accept its public house days are over, but the shell of the building could easily be adapted for other use.

"But, of course, a clean site is more valuable to developers - leaving us with even more 'little boxes' of uninteresting architecture.

Trafford Council has asked the owner to submit demolition prior approval notification, which outlines what state the site would be left in, but it has not yet received it.