A former social club is to be demolished to make way for new housing.

The dance hall next to the Victoria Working Men’s Club and Institute in Broadway was sold to Faversham-based company DCI for about £142,000.

The firm generally does refurbishments, but it also carries out new construction projects.

It initially got involved through Swale council’s No Use Empty Scheme, which offers loans to help renovate unused properties, but Chris Boorman, director of DCI, said the building is beyond renovation.

He said the corrugated roof was in disrepair and the building would be too difficult to heat because of a lack of insulation.

He said: “The maintenance was fairly poor. You just couldn’t have got it up to building regulations.

“It’s quite sad really these things are depleted around the country.

“It’s a shame. I’m fully sympathetic because it’s a loss of amenity, but if people don’t use them, then they are going to go.” DCI has submitted a planning application to build four two-bedroom maisonettes towards the rear of the site.

It plans to call the new development Victoria Court.

Mr Boorman said: “It’s within the conservation area so we are trying to keep it in sympathy with that. We will leave as many of the trees as we can. It should be quite a nice little site.”

The demolition work on the former dance hall, which was originally built in the 1970s, is estimated to be completed in the next two weeks.