The owner of Oxford bar Freud is objecting to a £500m scheme to transform the Radcliffe Infirmary into a university campus.

David Freud is concerned about the impact the massive development will have on the impressive church building, which he has converted into a bar and restaurant.

And he warned the university masterplan risked committing "cultural vandalism" by ignoring the importance of the neighbouring Grade-II listed building. The university consulted in the spring on its proposals, which would see a two-floor library built on the site, along with new mathematics, philosophy, history and linguistics departments.

But Mr Freud fears the university is planning to build far too close to the former St Paul's Church, in Walton Street, where Freud has been based since 1988. And he says the former church, built in Greek Revival style, will be dominated by new three-storey buildings that would surround it.

The church building, dating from the 1830s, still has the original stained glass windows and Mr Freud warned new buildings would block out natural sunlight. He has written to the city council and the university to set out his concerns. But he feared he faces a solitary battle with all the other surrounding buildings owned by the university.

A university spokesman said: "Mr Freud's comments will form part of the public consultation process that the university has just undertaken.

"The masterplan is currently being reviewed in the light of all the comments received, and it is hoped that a submission can be made to Oxford City Council in September." Mr Freud, who read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford, and later studied architectural history, said: "Our building is listed and it is of real historical merit. We have been trying hard to look after it.

"The masterplan proposes three-storey buildings on each side of St Paul's, which would be close to the church with a narrow footpath in between."