A former pub that had to shut after its expenses doubled has been sold.

The confidential sale of The Wig and Gown in Dartford was recently completed by estate agents Fleurets.

Former manager Yvonne Rickards previously told KentOnline how the pub was forced to shut at the end of 2022 due to rising costs and dropping visitor numbers.

She said at the time that they’d “worked really hard at it” but it was costing “more and more”.

She explained: “I don't think it'll ever open as a pub again unless someone has got a lot of money behind them."

Another of the pub’s partners added: “We just aren't getting the people in. With the cost of living being so high, fewer people are going out. Our income is going down and our outgoings are going up.

"We were alright until the cost-of-living crisis. We managed through Covid, that wasn't the problem, but now the energy bills have doubled. The cost of everything else has doubled.

"There's been no government help for businesses. They've cut business rates now but it was too little too late. We needed that four, five months earlier.”

The Grade II-listed venue in Spital Street was previously named The Court House which shut in 2016.

Yvonne took on the lease in 2018 and the pub reopened as The Wig and Gown in June of that year.

In its four years in Dartford, the pub held events including wedding receptions, gender reveals and birthday parties.

It is not known at this time what will happen to the building.