A new campaign specifically aiming to save an historic Edwardian pavilion in Folkestone will launch tomorrow.

Supporters of the Leas Pavilion on the town’s clifftop promenade will gather at the Old Fire Station in Sandgate High Street tomorrow.

Led by heritage enthusiast Nicholas Reed the meeting is set to discuss the serious state of disrepair and lack of action to restore the pavilion.

In spite of it being Grade II listed and awarded planning consent in November for a seven storey block of flats to be built around no work has been carried out on the site.

Now, Mr Reed is leading the calls for more action to be done and drive the restoration by seeking more financial support.

The meeting will also hear from Karen Simnett of the Community Assets in Difficult Ownership (CADO) group. She will present ideas on how finance might be obtained to enable work to start.

Mr Reed said: “There’s lots of sources of funding and both Shepway District Council and the owners seem to think there’s no way.

“Once you have a campaign with a specific building you can focus. The single issue campaigns are more effective than the general issues.”

He said he had no issue with the flats being built but wanted the building – which will feature as the development’s centrepiece according to architect’s drawings – to be respected and cared for.

The Edwardian building is now listed after community group Go Folkestone led a battle to save the historic building from demolition in 2007.

It was used as a tea rooms when it was built in 1902 and soon became one of Folkestone's most popular venues later becoming a theatre and then most recently as a bar.

“I’ve always taken interest in heritage buildings and helped set up the Friends of Shakespeare’s Globe,” Mr Reed added. “It can be great fun and provide a very popular tourist attraction.

“It’s a listed building but that’s one of the troubles because of the legislation. If you just say we’ve not got the money you can just leave almost indefinitely.

“A lot have been demolished simply because it became ‘uneconomical’ so even though they are listed they get demolished.”

He fears developers will push to build the flats before restoring the pavilion - which would break a condition of the planning permission consent – because they need to raise the money and then negate on restoring the pavilion by building the flats and leaving the building in an even worse state.

The meeting will be held in The Reading Room, at the Old Fire Station, 51 Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, CT20 8AH, on Friday, April 24. Doors will open at 2.30pm for a 3pm start. All welcome.