A landlady who has spent four years trying to take over a closed-down pub believes reopening it is still viable - as plans to redevelop it were rejected for the third time.

The future of the former Two Doves in Canterbury still hangs in the balance after planning officers refused the owners’ latest bid to turn it into a shop.

The old boozer, which shut in 2019, is about 140 years old and located at the end of a row of terraced Victorian houses in Nunnery Fields in one of the city’s conservation areas.

The latest scheme by applicant Kohithan Jinenthiran - to turn the pub’s ground floor into a shop and convert the first floor into a flat - has been rejected by Canterbury City Council’s planning officers.

The building has already survived two previous applications by developers to convert the historic tavern into homes.

Campaigners say they are desperate to see the pub’s return, describing it as a vital “community asset”, but have been unable to convince owners to sell the building to them.

Katrina Maclean, who runs the New Inn across the city in Havelock Street, said: “I tried for about three and a half, four years to buy the pub.

“I tried so many times to buy it and they refused all my offers and made it as complicated and as difficult as they possibly could.

“When they did first take it over, one of the ways that they tried to ensure that it wouldn’t be challenged as a change of use was that they ripped out all the pub fittings, took away all the external lists, the sign and the benching inside the bar.

“I mean as far as I’m concerned, it would still be viable.”

But now she says there is no guarantee about whether or not she will make any further attempts to purchase the site.

She added she will continue to be “an interested party” in its future and help others who might wish to try to reopen the pub.

The council’s planning officer noted the loss of the pub “as a community asset” has already been accepted in planning terms and the latest application could not be rejected on that basis.

They said the location of the former pub outside the city’s main shopping area meant introducing a retail unit there would not be compliant with the council’s planning policy.

A report setting out the decision said: “Proposals at out-of-centre locations will only be permitted if suitable sites are not sequentially available in the town centre and then edge-of-centre locations.

“The proposed development, by virtue of its location, would result in the introduction of a retail use outside of any town centre.

“The applicant has failed to adequately demonstrate that there are no other more suitably located and available sites nearer to the identified centres for the town centre use proposed.”

Ms Maclean has spoken of her desire to reopen the pub as a drink-only establishment in previous years and return it to the community.

She added: “I’m encouraged by the fact that the council has refused conversion for four-and-a-half years.

“People don’t want to lose something because they know it's almost impossible to get anything like that back.

“They don’t build new pubs; they’re very happy to take them down, but when new housing estates are built, they’re not putting community venues in, which is a real shame.

“We need various options, and it’s a really good place to socialise.

“The pub is actually a relatively cheap way to interact with people, and I think it's very lost on people who don’t realise the importance of pubs really - it’s an ease of communication.”

Support remains around the city for the Two Doves to reopen, according to ward councillor Connie Nolan.

“Canterbury is one of the last cities that’s held on to its little boozers,” said the Labour representative.

“It's got a good catchment area because people up South Canterbury Road would use it.”

Fellow ward councillor Paul Prentice (Lab) has also supported any bid to reopen the Two Doves.

He said: “They’re not just places where you have a pint; they’re the glue that binds us together and melting pots of the community where people can come together.

“Every time that someone has sought to change the use of this building, it’s been refused, quite rightly, because the location is inappropriate for anything else.”

LJW Developments lodged plans to convert the venue into two homes after it closed in 2019, which were submitted again in 2022.

Internal works have already seen some fittings from the Victorian pub removed, including the bar.

The latest scheme looked to retain the first floor as a flat, adding an external staircase for access and a small extension which sparked criticism it would overlook neighbouring properties.

Windows would also have been blocked up with brickwork to match the existing frontage and an electric sliding door installed in part of the building’s new shop frontage - which drew concerns from residents about it not being in keeping with the Victorian building and the impact on the street scene in a conservation area.

The applicant has been contacted for comment.