Some pubs in Medway have always offered accommodation, with varying degrees of comfort.

But pub chain Wetherspoons, a comparatively new player in the pub “hotel” business, has a policy of providing beds as well as booze in some of its outlets.

More and more pubs are getting in on the act as visitors realise that a bedroom with a bar downstairs – close to Medway’s historic attractions –could be the perfect combination for a short break.

Day trips to Medway are a booming business and the statistics are staggering. A 2009 report called the Economic Impact of Tourism on Medway Towns, estimated that 3.3m day-trippers visit the Towns every year, contributing more than £122m to the local economy.

If only a small percentage of that huge number could be persuaded to stay a day or two longer, the benefits are obvious.

Around 75% of visitors are from the UK, followed closely by France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Cllr Howard Doe, Medway’s head of community services, says he believes projects like the multi-million pound restoration of Rochester’s Eastgate House, which featured in several Charles Dickens novels, will be popular with day-trippers to Medway.

Exhibitions at Rochester Cathedral, such as the current display of the 12th century Textus Roffensis manuscript, help give a new dimension to the tourist trade.

In Rochester, work is being carried out to convert space at the Golden Lion pub in the High Street into guest rooms. The Wetherspoons venue is closed until October 28 while the £1.5m expansion is carried out.

The area above the pub will be converted into nine en suite bedrooms – three double rooms and six twin rooms.

Meanwhile, the Ship and Trades Hotel and pub in Chatham Maritime – next to Chatham Marina and the Dockside Outlet shopping centre – has also submitted plans to the council to build four more bedrooms as well as a conservatory and a new seating area outside.

In Gillingham, a pub which has been empty for almost two years could become a restaurant with bed and breakfast rooms.

The former Livingstone Arms, which was popular with football fans, was sold earlier this year.

It has been bought by Konuralp Investments, based in Hackney, and architects working on the company’s behalf have submitted plans to Medway Council asking for a change of use from a pub to a restaurant or cafe.

The firm also wants to turn the former living accommodation area on the top floor into rooms for people to rent on a bed-and- breakfast basis.

In total, the company wants to convert the former bar into a 47-seat restaurant, build a reception area inside the ground floor and make alterations inside to fit in three bedrooms.

Upstairs plans submitted to the council include another seven guest bedrooms, which will mainly be double rooms, but some will be able to accommodate up to four people.