A development expected to “change the face of the town centre” is years behind schedule and continues to stall as buyers’ finances fall through.

The site of the former Scruffy Ducks pub in William Street, Herne Bay, is currently being used as a city council car park and has been on the market since 2019.

Owner Mike Thompson secured planning permission from Canterbury City Council to build 20 flats and four commercial units on the site the year before.

But the developer says selling the plot - which forms part of Market Street car park - has been challenging.

“We’ve had three of four options on it over the years, but through bad decision all round, selling it has been very hard - especially in this financial climate we’re in now,” said Mr Thompson.

“We recently had buyers lined up, but with the Liz Truss financial collapse, their funds were withdrawn.

“They are still trying to come up with another financial package, but in the meantime I’ve put it back not the market.

“It’s in such a prominent area, any small shops in the units would thrive from the footfall.

“They could hold a coffee chain or a sandwich conglomerate, like Subway.”

Herne Bay has seen similarly underused plots transformed in the past couple of years.

In a £20 million project, a derelict bus garage in the town centre was recently turned into a 50-home estate equipped with several commercial units.

Businessmen involved in the management of the shopfronts, have said they could become a Sainsbury’s Local or a Costa Coffee.

“Just look at the old bus station project,” continued Mr Thompson.

“It had become a dumping ground with people throwing rubbish onto it - but now it’s improved the area to no end.

“If something similar could be done with the William Street lot, it would change the face of the area.”

The site has had a turbulent history.

Mr Thompson bought the freehold to the pub in 1991, changing its name to Scruffy Ducks.

It closed in June 2004 and was blighted by squatters and vandals soon afterwards.

The pub was demolished in February 2008 following a fire that destroyed its roof and made the derelict building unsafe.

That year, Mr Thompson won planning permission to build a new pub, basement wine bar and 14 flats on the site, but this idea never came to fruition.

Eleven years later, Mr Thompson partnered with developer Bhajan Singh to convert the space into 20 flats and shops, but their deal fell apart.

Shortly afterwards, though, the developer decided to put the property up for sale.