Plans have been submitted to turn part of a former town centre pub into flats.

Proposals involve converting the first floor and attic of The Wig and Gown in Spital Street, Dartford into four residential homes.

This would include a single one-bed flat and three two-bed apartment

If plans are approved, the ground floor will be kept as a public house or a separate application will be made for a different commercial or community use if a tenant is not found.

The applicants have also submitted plans to make internal alterations, demolish part of an existing garden structure, and install refuse and bicycle storage.

It is claimed the proposed scheme would help to prevent criminal activity in the area by creating a “safe and secure environment”.

CCTV and a gated fence would be installed, and the area would be kept “well lit”, developers say.

People will be able to submit comments on the plans up until Thursday, December 12.

To see more planning applications and other public notices for your area, click here.

The site was sold confidentially in September by estate agents Fleurets.

It was originally built as part of the church in 1850. Within 10 years it was converted to a Crown Court and in 1995 it was changed to a pub.

The Grade II-listed venue in Spital Street was previously named The Court House which shut in 2016.

Yvonne Rickards took on the lease in 2018 and the pub reopened as The Wig and Gown in June of that year.

However, she previously told KentOnline how the pub was forced to shut at the end of 2022 due to rising costs and dropping visitor numbers.

She said at the time that they’d “worked really hard at it” but it was costing “more and more”.

She explained: “I don't think it'll ever open as a pub again unless someone has got a lot of money behind them."

Another of the pub’s partners added: “We just aren't getting the people in. With the cost of living being so high, fewer people are going out. Our income is going down and our outgoings are going up.

"We were alright until the cost-of-living crisis. We managed through Covid, that wasn't the problem, but now the energy bills have doubled. The cost of everything else has doubled.

"There's been no government help for businesses. They've cut business rates now but it was too little too late. We needed that four, five months earlier.”

In its four years in Dartford, the pub held events including wedding receptions, gender reveals and birthday parties.