A boarded-up town centre pub could reopen next year as its owner believes demand has returned.

The John Wallis in Middle Row, Ashford, has been closed since the first Covid lockdown and was expected to remain shut for good.

But owner Shen Sen says the town centre site could be back in business in 2024 as "there is still a pub culture in Kent".

He paid £350,000 for the Grade II-listed building in 2017 when it was sold at a Clive Emson property auction.

"It could probably become a pub again by the summer," Mr Sen said.

“It does not need planning permission for that because it already has been a pub but I think there is demand for the pub.

“There are not many pubs left in the town centre and in general I think people do like to go to pubs.

“We don’t want to ever lose the pub culture in Kent and this country.

"But it also depends on the licensing conditions for the pub - people need to be allowed to go outside to smoke, for example.”

Mr Sen says it is too early to be more specific about when the John Wallis - previously called The Man of Kent - might reopen.

At present he is concentrating on having the building’s upper two floors turned into guest accommodation.

A planning application for listed building consent to clear the way for that is currently going through Ashford Borough Council (ABC).

During the pandemic in 2020, Mr Sen said it would not be profitable to reopen the pub amid the government’s continuing safety requirements.

He then said he did not expect it to open again with the state of the town's economy.

That June he had criticised ABC for raising its car park prices, saying the costs would discourage people from coming to the town centre.

Elsewhere in Ashford, Mr Sen has submitted plans to build seven flats next to the Fish Inn in Brookfield Road, which he also owns.

He is seeking to place four one- and three two-bedroom homes on a car park next to the site.

A decision on that scheme is yet to be made by ABC.