War veterans have been left in limbo over a supermarket’s bid to buy their Royal British Legion hall.

Lidl reportedly approached the British Legion headquarters in April this year with a proposal to develop the memorial hall in Newland Street.

Members of the Witham branch vowed to fight the plans but eight months later are still waiting to hear whether their hall will be sold by headquarters.

Chairman Andy Black said: “Our property department hasn’t been in touch at all, not since Lidl came down and had a look at the site about four months ago.

“We have heard nothing from HQ so it leaves us a little bit in the air, but no news is good news.”

He added that members are confident the hall will not be sold, particularly as there was an application to allocate Iceni House, which is next door, for residential use.

He believes without Iceni House the memorial hall would be too small for a supermarket.

A Royal British Legion spokesman said: “There are still ongoing negotiations so there is no change since September and we are still looking at all the options.”

She added that there is no time limit for the decision to be made, and it must benefit the charity as a whole.