A fight to save Feltham’s oldest watering hole came to an abrupt end after the site was quickly sold off for housing.

The Sawyers Arms landlords who ran the pub for seven years only found out on December 4 the premises were up for sale.

Five days later the pub was bought by A2Dominion Housing Group.

Regular punters were shocked to find out the sale went through on December 9, just days after they had started a campaign for ‘One Last Christmas’.

MP for Feltham and Heston Seema Malhotra who had met with a group of residents on the Friday before, said: “I am shocked at how quickly this community pub has been closed and sold-off, a real landmark corner in Feltham, with such poor communication to the local community.

“I met with local residents in The Sawyers Arms and backed their campaign for one last Christmas and New Year in the pub. It is a real shame this could not happen.

“The publicans who have run the pub for seven years told me they had only come to know of the pub being sold by Fullers from a customer who had seen something and contacted Fullers to enquire about “buying it” – only to be told contracts had been exchanged with a property development company.

"This is hardly the spirit of Christmas – let alone decent corporate behaviour.”

The publicans informed Ms Malhotra they were not told about the sale and had not received any letter back in November, as claimed by Fullers.

They had in fact only received it in the first week of December.

A spokesperson for Fuller’s said: “At Fuller’s we constantly review all of our pubs, and occasionally there are circumstances in which some pubs unfortunately no longer fit within the Fuller’s estate.

"After much thought and consideration, the difficult decision has been made to place The Sawyers Arms on the market.

“The property had been on the market for some time and was sold to A2Dominion Group on December 9, 2013.”

Danny Lynch, A2Dominion group regional development director (London), said: “We can confirm we have purchased the site previously occupied by The Sawyers Arms public house in Feltham.

“While there are no concrete plans at present, we are looking to commence pre-application discussions with the local authority in January or February 2014.”