An Oxford bowls club grounds and pavilion may soon be bulldozed.

The building that was the home to the East Oxford Bowls Club was reduced to a burned-out wreck in a fire in May.

The club itself, founded in 1919, folded in January 2001.

Now owner Oriel College is seeking conservation area consent to have the remains of the building knocked down - although the long-term future of the site remains undecided.

Building houses on the site, between Bartlemas Close and Southfield Road, off Cowley Road, has not been ruled out.

Oriel College treasurer Will Stephenson said: "Since the fire we have been trying to secure the necessary consents to have the building demolished. It's been delayed because it's in the conservation area, so we have to get conservation area planning consent."

After the bowls club folded, Oriel College started work converting the site into tennis courts, but that was scrapped due to insufficient demand.

The Bartlemas Conservation Area, in which the club is situated, is currently under review with a report due to go to Oxford City Council's east area parliament within the next few months.

Mr Stephenson said that until the review was complete it would not be possible to make long-term plans for the site.

He said: "A management plan has to be agreed and that will then give us a framework for what the possible uses for that site are.

"We have no current plans, it just depends on what the appraisal finally determines."

Larry Eltringham, who used to help run the East Oxford Bowls Club, said: "The site has just gone to rack and ruin. Absolutely nothing has been done since we left.

"It's terrible to see. We used to look after the green, so to watch it go like it has, and the veranda to collapse and the weeds to grow, some to eight to 10 feet tall, is very disheartening."