Fresh images reveal the state of disrepair at an abandoned restaurant once “colonized by pigeons and infested by rats”.

Pictures of the former Raj Venue in Canterbury have surfaced ahead of its Clive Emson auction next month, showing severe dilapidation inside the building as well as outside.

Just a stone’s throw from the historic Westgate Towers and Gardens, the beleaguered Indian in historic St Dunstan’s Street has fallen into such disrepair council officers had to trace the owners.

It has been branded “a shameful embarrassment” by neighbours, with the Grade II-listed structure sitting empty since the pandemic.

The three-storey building has a ground-floor restaurant divided into two areas with a bar, toilets, kitchen and cellar.

Clive Emson photographs show dust gathering on chairs, half-made tables and the bar area still stocked with alcoholic drinks.

A lonesome Henry Hoover can also be spotted on the worn floors.

On the first floor are more toilets, seating areas and a shower room, while there are three bedrooms on the second floor.

In the images, the beds lay scruffily as light peeks through the blinds, showing the poor condition of the walls.

On the top floor, the dirty carpet is surrounded by crumbling paint and water damage with a boarded-up window.

With a guide price of £180,000 to £200,000, bosses at Clive Emson say the sorry site is in need of “total refurbishment”.

The firm said: “The property, a former Indian restaurant with upper parts, is in need of total refurbishment and may be suitable for a variety of alternative cuisines or indeed many other uses, subject to all necessary consents being obtainable.”

Canterbury Business Improvement District (BID), a consortium of traders, pooled resources in April last year to use the building in a marketing drive designed to promote the area as 'Canterbury’s West End'.

Yet before long, BID’s decision to harness the Raj as its campaign poster child came in for criticism.

Some pointed out a perceived irony in posters promoting the area emblazoned across the building while it was infested with rats.

Neighbour David Sadler told KentOnline last year: “This building is not only an eyesore but represents a danger to the community as portions of the guttering appear about to fall onto the street below.

“The back courtyard is laden with abandoned equipment, is colonized by pigeons and infested by rats.

“In one of Canterbury’s most historic and noted conservation areas, it is a shameful embarrassment.”