Cambridge's 'Pink Floyd' pub Flying Pig saved from demolition

A city pub famous for its links with rock band Pink Floyd has been saved from demolition - after developers bowed to public pressure.

The Flying Pig in Cambridge had been under threat for more than a decade and is a popular live music venue.

Developers Pace Investments adjusted their plans for the surrounding area after almost 14,000 people signed a petition to keep the pub intact.

Landlord Matt Hatfield told the BBC: "We work hard and we love this place."

There has been a pub on the Hills Road site since the 1840s, and original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett is said to have met then future Floyd guitarist David Gilmour there, in the 1950s.

The pub - next to the Botanic Gardens and close to Cambridge station - was in line to be torn down under plans for a "mixed-use scheme", including offices.

A public consultation in June led to a petition that raised 13,638 signatures.

Managing director of Pace Investments, Jonathan Vincent, admitted that public pressure had "played its part".

"We've changed our plans, listened to what people said and we've now designed around it," he said.

He said the rear of the building will be modernised and rebuilt, with the "bar and interior maintained and preserved."

However, journalist and musician Nick Barraclough, who wrote a book about the Flying Pig, said developers "made a clever move" - because the changes still mean removing the landlord accommodation upstairs.

"The fact that the people who run it live upstairs is a terribly important part of it," he said.

"No pub is just a bar. They are still going to take the heart out of the place."

Mr Hatfield, who has managed the pub with his wife Justine for 21 years, said the few remaining independent pubs are "part of the fabric of Cambridge".

"The city is changing so much," he said. "But we are part of the community here. We work hard."

A consultation on the amended plans begins on 5 December.