Contractors started work on Monday to demolish the derelict Quarterdeck, Deal’s biggest seafront eyesore.

The inside of the single-storey building is being stripped and workers are busy dismantling the back of the site, facing the Middle Street car park.

A former district council property, the old Quarterdeck is now owned by the Canterbury-based company Rogate, which has plans to build flats in a three and four-storey block, with business space for a restaurant, cafe or shop on the ground floor.

John Showler, a director at the firm, said: “The development will be well worth the wait and should be completed by the autumn of 2014. Properties in the building have already been reserved, which is encouraging.”

* For full story see the East Kent Mercury, August 1.