Business owners fear a supermarket opening at a former pub site could force them out of business.

The Atlas pub in Old Shoreham Road, Hove, closed last year and has remained vacant since.

Southern Co-operative has applied for an alcohol licence at the site and, if approved, plans to turn the site into a shop. A protest was staged outside the site yesterday.

Ujai Sethi, 58, the owner of nearby Amherst Crescent Post Office and Stores for the past 30 years, said: “It’s my life. The shop has been here for more than 60 years. It has happened to so many different places when a supermarket has opened up and then they close down.”

Mark Stack, 49, moved to Old Shoreham Road three years ago.

He said: “We are 15 minutes’ walk from another Co-op so it doesn’t even need to be here.”

Navin Patel, southern district president of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, runs a similar outlet in Trafalgar Road in Portslade.

He said a supermarket opened behind his shop six months ago.

He said: “I’m in a dying business and don’t know how long I’m going to survive.

“I think the Government’s MPs should do a lot more than they do if they are to save corner shops.”

Community Jayne Bennett and Vanessa Brown, Conservative councillors for the Hove Park ward of Brighton and Hove City Council, were both at the protest.

Coun Brown said: “The residents really don’t want to lose the post office, which they are concerned might happen.”

Coun Bennett said: “It is not just a post office, it is a community thing.

“There is a huge strength of feeling around here.”

Southern Co-operative, which is not part of The Co-op Group, has said it will only buy the Atlas pub site if it can get an alcohol licence.

The decision on whether to grant the Southern Co-operative an alcohol licence takes place at a licensing committee meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council at 10am on October 1 at Brighton Town Hall.

A Southern Co-operative spokeswoman said: “We intend to engage fully with the Hove community to address any concerns and explain our values as a co-operative in supporting the local economy and contributing to the local communities in which we trade.

“As a co-operative, we have always had a purpose beyond profit and are committed to making a difference in our local communities.”

Southern Co-operative said the proposed Old Shoreham Road store would create about 18 jobs if the plan went ahead.