Plans to demolish part of the former Wharf House pub, near Oxford's Westgate car park, should be thrown out, say city planning officers.

The pub, dating from the 1830s, was one of only a few buildings to survive the controversial redevelopment of St Ebbe's 40 years ago.

City councillors will be recommended to reject an application to demolish the old pub's rear extension and roof to create six new flats.

Wharf House, which sits in an island between Speedwell Street and Thames Street, once overlooked Friar's Wharf, the largest wharf and dock in Oxford.

The basin was filled in shortly after the coming of the railways in the 1840s.

Developers want to create two ground floor flats with a private courtyard area. The four remaining flats would each have small roof terraces.

Much of the pub's original structure would have survived.

But planning officer Mary Rowe said the loss of the main roof structure would ruin the Wharf's architectural integrity, eroding its "significance in the understanding of the area's historical development."

The application by Hartley Homes will go before councillors on the city's central south and west area committee on Tuesday.