A 1930s pub described as the best surviving example of its type in York has been saved after councillors rejected a plan to demolish it and build flats.

Councillors were told that The Magnet in Osbaldwick Lane was not viable as a pub and that no offers had been made on the building, which has been empty since 2018.

But members of the area planning sub-committee variously described the marketing and viability assessments of the pub as “cynical” and “box-ticking” and said they felt more effort should have been made to keep it as a place for the community.

The Magnet, one of the generation of ‘improved’ public houses designed for the spreading suburbs and housing estates of 1930s England, is the “the best survivor of its type in York”, according to CAMRA.

Osbaldwick and Derwent ward councillor Mark Warters has been a longstanding supporter of keeping The Magnet as a pub.

Enterprise Inns ran the pub before it closed, before Moorside Developments proposed demolition to make way for eight flats.

Cllr Warters said: “There’s been a quite deliberate and cynical attempt to run down a perfectly good building in furtherance of demolition.

“I hope the committee realise this decision today has wider implications because if such behaviour is rewarded no pub in York, and I mean that no pub, is viable when compared with its site potential for housing.”

He said he had been working with someone who wanted to keep the pub, while building homes and holiday flats in the car park, but said the potential buyer had been ignored.

The council commissioned its own independent review of the marketing process, which found that the process had been sound.

The developer also last month commissioned a report by property specialists Fleurets which said that “the property does not have a credible or economically sustainable future trading as a public house”.

Cllr Jonny Crawshaw said: “I think that the way Enterprise operate is they look at where they can sell off assets to get cash and I think that this has quite clearly been sold at a rate that is reflective of the development opportunity of the site, not of the ongoing pub.”

Cllr Stephen Fenton said: “What I’m weighing up is the benefit of the delivery of a small number of new homes and this nagging thought that there really hasn’t been an adequate attempt to market this seriously as a pub or community facility.”

Cllr Bob Webb said: “It’s an important piece of local history.

“This is a great example of something that was built for the people of Tang Hall and people on Osbaldwick Lane at the time and it’s something that should be reclaimed.

“Taking something away yet again for the local people in that area will be very difficult. I recognise that it will need some work but I think the developers need to go away and think about what that work should be.”

The developer is allowed to appeal the decision.