A pub which traded after hours and may have been used for drug-taking has been closed down after ignoring warnings to comply with its licence terms.

The New Inn in Milton Road, Gravesend, was first found to be breaching several conditions in March last year.

Police and local authority licensing officers gave advice and the designated premises supervisor agreed to close the pub until all breaches had been rectified.

The pub was reopened shortly after but during a follow-up visit in July, licensing officers found that the pub continued to regularly breach its licence, including trading beyond their licensed hours and having insufficient door staff.

As part of a routine drugs test, there was also suggestion that cocaine may have been used on the site.

Police requested a review of the New Inn's licence due to concerns around the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety and the prevention of public nuisance.

A review hearing was held at Gravesham Borough Council in December and the pub had its hours reduced considerably. In addition, the designated premise supervisor was changed.

However, within days a licensing officer visited the pub and found further breaches of its licence, as well as inaccurate records of the door staff’s working hours.

A full licensing check was conducted and a further eight breaches were found. There was also further suggestion that cocaine had been used in the toilets.

After a decision was made to carry out a further review, the pub's licence holder surrendered their licence.

An application to transfer the licence was not made within the 28-day limit and the pub remains closed.

PC Clare Cossar, licensing officer from the north division licensing team, said: "I am pleased the licence holder took the decision to surrender their licence.

"Licensing officers made several attempts to address issues raised by the community with the pub’s management and designated premise supervisor before taking any formal action.

"Unfortunately the first review of the licence did not achieve a marked improvement and as a result we were forced to take further action.

"I hope this result reminds other licence holders of their responsibilities to actively promote the licensing objectives and, more importantly, that the police will take action against any other premise found to be behaving outside of the law."