Inquiries are ongoing after a man's body was pulled from the River Darent close to a hot-spot for drinkers.

The 56-year-old, who is believed to have been a rough-sleeper, was pulled out of the water near the Royal Naval Association's Dartford HQ in East Hill.

Inquiries are underway to establish what happened.

A RNA spokesman said the area by the river was often frequented by drinkers.

He said: "We see people down there all the time, we’ve been going down there quite a lot because we’ve been decorating our headquarters.

“You get a lot of people sitting behind our building by the river. There’s also a small park across the road with seats and often groups of immigrants, I think they are Polish, arrive during the day with their bags of beer and sit there drinking.

"The river isn’t that deep around that area, the deepest part is over the road where all the swans and ducks meet by the church."

A police spokesman said officers were called to East Hill by the ambulance service at around 8.07am on Saturday, to reports of a man’s body being seen floating.

The man's death is not being treated as suspicious.

Charlotte Whiteman, 24, who lives near East Hill, said: "Three or four weeks ago when it was really hot there was someone washing their clothes in the river, one of the girls took him a sandwich.

"He was drinking the water as well. When the police came he ran down the road and left his bag on the bridge. As the police left he came back, but I haven't seen him since. There are quite a few homeless people in the town."

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police on 101 quoting incident number 26-325.