Villagers who bemoaned the loss of their local hardware shop are now aghast that it could reopen as a takeaway.

But, while a flood of protest letters poured in to West Oxfordshire District Council's planning department, a petition signed by over 100 people in favour also landed on their desks.

The row has erupted in the wake of the closure of Temples of Bampton, a DIY, hardware and garden store in the Market Square which closed in December last year.

At a meeting on Monday, planning agents for the owners received the go-ahead for change of use to hot food takeaway and said it was expected to be "ethnic cuisine."

But the battle looks set to rage on because the permission is bound by strict conditions, one of which limits opening hours between 8am and 5pm - not conducive to a takeaway business.

To change them the applicant has to reapply and give details of how to deal with waste disposal and smell in a listed building.

One man who stands outside the immediate row is Don Rouse, who lives in the nearby village of Lew but who has been part of Bampton social life for decades.

He said: "The village is absolutely divided over this and it's a real shame that we won't get the hardware shop back.

"It was there for more than 10 years and, like a lot of village shops, just ticked over.

"Nobody was ever going to make a fortune out of it but it provided a handy, local service."

The hot issue even enlivened the village's annual shirt race over the late May Bank Holiday weekend. One competitor dressed up his pram with banners and invited people to sign a petition against the takeaway plan.

A total of 263 people put their names to it, while 30 others sent individual letters of objection to the district council.

Among the objections are that the takeaway would create noise, smell and litter and that, as well as existing food outlets in the village, there are Indian takeaways in nearby Carterton and Black Bourton.

Robin Heath, for the landlords, said there had been "little or no interest" in bringing the premises back into use as a shop.