A vacant town centre pub that is set to become flats and a micropub is going up for auction.

The Old House at Home in Sheerness will go under the hammer with a guide price of between £240,000 and £260,000.

The boozer has planning permission to be demolished and replaced with a micropub and eight homes.

Land and property auctioneer Clive Emson is selling the property over three days from Monday, April 29 to Wednesday, May 1.

It says: “The site occupies a good location close to the seafront, Sheerness-on-Sea mainline railway station, local amenities and schools.”

The watering hole had gone up for auction in September 2022 but was not sold but returned to the market in November.

Previously owned by Shepherd Neame, the building is in a prominent position at the junction of the High Street and Trinity Way.

It served pints for at least 150 years with the building dating back to the 1860s.

However, it closed its doors for the final time in 2020 and has sat empty since.

It had repeatedly come to the attention of the authorities due to “anti-social behaviour, substance abuse and numerous other infringements of the licensing regulations”.

Plans to redevelop the site were submitted in 2021 by Mr M McAllister.

A statement backing the proposals said: “There has been a gradual decline in the number of pubs in Sheerness partly due to a shift in culture, the introduction of national chains such as Wetherspoon, and a move away from Sheerness’s association as a naval town.”

However, councillors had described the initial designs as "boring" and "cheap" in May 2022.

Following this, new designs were considered that had a more traditional appearance.

The original scheme featured seven flats but the redesign saw the addition of an extra one, as the remodelled roof meant there was more floor space.

The amended plan was approved unanimously by councillors in August of that year.

However, at the time the late Cllr Cameron Beart, who represented Queenborough and Halfway, said he was not convinced a micropub would ever open.

He predicted it was more likely to be used as a shop or something else.

His suggestion to add a condition that anything of historical interest found during the demolition work should not only be examined and recorded but also retained, rather than end up in a skip, was accepted.

Despite its Victorian history, the pub is not historically listed or in a conservation area.

Keep up to date with proposed building developments here.

Planning officers have stated, however, that “its long-standing contribution to the local community through the provision of a public house has resulted in the building having some historic value.

“However, the creation of a micropub on the ground floor of the new proposed building will help to ensure that the site retains a public house on the site, which will be of continued benefit to the wider locality.”