A dilapidated symbol of Snowdown’s mining history could be demolished to make way for new homes.

A planning application has been lodged to knock down the former working men's club in Aylesham Road which went into voluntary liquidation and closed in 2009.

The club was built in 1958 and was enjoyed by as many as a thousand members when the pit was operating in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

But Aylesham and District Community Workshop Trust secretary Derek Garrity says the village has to move with the times.

The scheme submitted to Dover District Council is for eight semi-detached homes with parking on a site which is deemed “contrary to the village’s development plan”.

The welfare club was hugely popular in the village but business dwindled when the colliery closed in 1987.

Mr Garrity said: “It was right next to the pit so very popular with the men, and a focal point for the community, but times have changed.

“We have to respect our past and heritage but can’t live in it and I’m afraid the building is now just an eyesore, having been empty for six years.

“The fact is that we need more new, quality homes and they have to be better than the eyesore we have there now.

“Some people might complain, but I think it’s a positive step in the regeneration of the area.”

Mr Garrity says the community is well-catered for with the remaining Aylesham and District Social Centre, known as the Ratling, and the new Aylesham Welfare Leisure Centre, of which he is secretary, which has a licensed bar but also extra facilities, including a gym and 17 acres of sport pitches.

A Kent Workers May Day Rally takes place at Aylesham playing fields between 10.30am and 7.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday, May 4. For more information email kentmayday@mail.com or call 07715 323793.