McDonald's has confirmed that a pub in Croydon will be bulldozed to make way for a new restaurant.

Planning permission was granted in January this year to demolish the Gypsy Moth pub in Colonnades Leisure Park off Purley Way and replace it with the drive-thru store.

Now the fast food giant is hoping to have the new golden arches up and running by the end of the year.

“We can confirm that planning permission for a McDonald’s drive thru restaurant has been granted at the former Gipsy Moth site in Croydon," a spokeswoman for McDonald's said

"We are hoping to be on site by the end of the year.”

McDonald's put in the planning application in June last year and noted the pub's poor performance as the main reason permission should be granted.

"Whilst the existing public house is still in use, it is not performing well and suffers from its location at an out-of centre leisure park, where neighbouring uses (both existing and proposed) have limited synergy with users of the public house," a planning statement said.

"Unlike other public houses in the surrounding area, its location means that it lacks a significant immediate adjacent residential population, unlike a number of the pubs in the local area, and its role and function means that it does not provide an important community facility.

"Given the longstanding poor performance of a public house in this location, the long-term viability of

such a use is very uncertain."

The statement also said the "dated" look of the building meant it was necessary for the pub to be demolished.

"The existing building is dated, has very little positive architecture merit and is inefficient," it said.

"This creates an opportunity for this part of the site to be comprehensive redeveloped to provide a modern building for strong demand that is being expressed from restaurant operators seeking representation at The Colonnades."