A 140-year-old pub and hotel in Dover is to be converted into flats despite an outcry from local residents.

The White Cliffs Hotel in the centre of St Margaret’s at Cliffe has served customers since 1885 but has struggled in recent years.

The Grade II listed building was originally used as school classrooms in the mid 1800s but has remained a landmark on the high street since.

The owner, Gavin Oakley, has blamed Brexit and the pandemic for its downturn and last year the hotel made a loss of £28,000.

This led to their decision to convert the Grade II listed building into three flats with plans submitted in 2020.

While planning officers recognised it would be at odds with the council’s tourism strategy, they felt they couldn’t stand in the way of a failing business.

In a viability report the Oakleys said they couldn’t earn a minimum wage if it was run in the same way.

But this has led to an outcry from residents and St Margaret’s at Cliffe parish council and 59 objections have been sent into Dover council.

The parish said it will challenge the decision in a judicial review.

At a planning committee on Thursday there was disagreement over whether the building was a hotel or a pub, with the owners saying it was a hotel while residents claiming it acted as a pub too.

If counted as a pub, there are two in the village, the White Cliffs and The Smugglers Inn down the High Street.

During the debate Cllr Oliver Richardson (Cons) slammed the council’s own report which claimed there were four pubs in the village: “A 140-year-old hospitality business deserves every chance.

“If residents can’t use the Cliffs they’ll go down to one pub. Is this sloppy report writing or something else?

“The remaining pub, The Smugglers, is doing well. It doesn’t offer a large restaurant, bar or outside space but it has its own successful niche.

“To quote their website the Cliffs “is the hub of the village” and in the past it would’ve hosted 100 people in a pie and quiz night.”

Representing the parish council, Cllr Rebecca Simcox also criticised the council’s findings: “It says there is strong competition in the area, what?

“Try and get a table at The Smugglers, in our village the two businesses complement rather than compete.”

This is not the first time the current owners have made changes to the pub, as four houses have been approved around the hotel since 2019, taking up much of the original car park, but have yet to be built.

While there was a unanimous feeling of loss among councillors, some members were critical of the running of the pub as Cllr Peter Jull (Cons) said: “If this hotel is unable to operate an acceptable profit with seven bedrooms, how come so many other hotels of similar size are able to do so?

Meanwhile others sympathised with the owners as Cllr Charles Woodgate (Lab) said he didn’t hold anything against the owners.

He said: “Across the country pubs have closed down, I live in Tilmanstone and The Ravens was there for 500 years and closed down sadly.

“No one likes a pub more than me. But nonetheless the owner, if that was my property and I was losing shed loads of money, I’d like to turn it into houses and get my money back.”

The plans were accepted in a close vote, with four votes in favour and four against, and had to be decided by the chair of the committee, Cllr James Back (Cons) who said: “I’ve got to vote with my planning head and not my heart.

“I do feel for the residents and I have listened to them but we are a planning committee and I’m voting with our officer’s recommendation.”