ONE of Britain’s biggest pub chains has launched a new attempt to open a watering hole beside an ancient Hampshire church.

J D Wetherspoon has submitted a second application to convert the former Palfrey & Kemp shop in Lymington into a bar and restaurant.

New Forest District Council threw out the company's first application last year amid claims that the two-storey pub would “ruin” the town. The proposal sparked nearly 200 objections, including protests from New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne and conservation watchdogs at the Lymington Society.

But the council's decision to refuse the scheme resulted in Lymington being branded the snootiest town in Britain – that was four years after boutique owner Pippa Redman said Lymington was too posh for an Argos store.

More than 1,000 people subsequently signed a petition raised by Jacqui Head and her daughter Emma, who support Wetherspoon’s attempt to open a pub in the town.

A Wetherspoon spokesman said the company had “tweaked” its proposals in a bid to gain planning permission at the second attempt.

He added: “We’re as keen as ever to open a pub in Lymington.”

A council spokesman said it was “early days yet”, with the application still being processed and yet to appear on the authority’s website.

The proposed site is only a few feet from the 13th century St Thomas’s Church.

Objectors to the original application included the vicar, the Rev Peter Salisbury, who said: “A church and its churchyard are traditionally places of quiet and dignity. The siting of a pub next door would be offensive to many people.”

But Wetherspoon defended its plan, pointing to the many awards the company had won for the way in which its 760 pubs were run.