A developer has unveiled plans to breathe new life into a derelict guest house while allaying fears it could become flats.

The old City of Canterbury in St Thomas Hill will be restored as a B&B after going under the hammer with a £550,000 price tag.

Previously, advertising material produced by marketeer Allsop said the vacant building had the "potential for reconfiguration into flats or a single home".

But after official papers recently surfaced highlighting plans to revive the languishing site some living nearby have sighed relief.

Branding the former Canterbury City B&B a “lovely place”, John Elliot, 75, explained: "It was very useful to have as Bed & Breakfast before, as when we needed extra accommodation for visitors they could stay there, and it did a nice breakfast too.

"If I were to have chosen I would have liked it to be a pub rather, but this will be good as well."

Neighbours and councillors voiced hopes for the 10-bedroom building to be brought back into community use, as it went up for auction in October last year, nine months after the business was dissolved.

Images taken at the time of its marketing showed the rooms on its lowest level had peeling wallpaper and heavily marked tiles.

The following December a developer bought the former boarding house, which once housed pupils for the nearby St Edmund’s School, for £612,000.

Since then contractors have been seen at the property, which now appears to have undergone a freshening up.

Reacting to the news, a neighbour said: “I am relieved that they are not going to turn it into more flats.

“I think the B&B returning will be a good thing for the area – a pub would have been nice, but then that would probably have caused problems for parking on the road.”

An application approved by the council in March paved the way for the structure to be developed once more as a bed and breakfast.

Although less than half a mile from the city centre, there are precious few amenities within walking distance.

The closest convenience store is a co-op on the University of Kent campus, but locals complain the irregular opening hours make this an unreliable option for weekly shopping.

Lib Dem councillor Alex Ricketts previously voiced concerns about new residential properties in Canterbury eating into commercial sites.