SUPERMARKET giant Tesco last night revived its attempt to open a store on the site of the gutted Fox and Hounds pub in Abingdon Road, Oxford.

The company has submitted another planning application for a three-storey building on the corner of Weirs Lane, housing a 4,75sq ft Tesco Express and four flats, less than three months after being turned down by city planners.

Traders in Abingdon Road said they could be driven to closure.

Mohammad Afzal, the sub-postmaster at Nisa Local store opposite the site, said: “Everybody is more and more angry as to why Tesco have to push in everywhere and push everyone else out.

“We do not need another food retailer here. I am worried for the future of my business, and everyone else on this road will be affected very badly as well.”

Dharamaraj Prasad, who has run Londis on the corner of Newton Road since 1985, said: “Some of the shops will be very badly affected and in a few years will disappear.”

The pub has been closed since 2007, and was badly damaged by fire in July last year.

In August, Oxford City Council planning officers rejected Tesco’s previous proposal because of the design of the new building. The council is due to make a decision before Christmas.

Tesco spokesman Melanie Chiswell said: “We would really like to bring this site forwards and invest in a new store, new housing and job opportunities for local people rather than leave the site derelict for the foreseeable future.”

Tesco has recently opened new stores in Botley, Magdalen Street, and the former Solus Lighting shop in St Aldate’s. The St Aldate’s Tesco was originally refused a licence to sell alcohol by Oxford City Council, but that was overturned by magistrates last month.