The Seaview pub in Birchington has sold at auction for £350,000 – the lower end of its guide price..
The property in Station Road was owned by Kent brewery Shepherd Neame.
The auctioneer for Clive Emson said: “The property may be suitable for a variety of commercial uses, perhaps bed and breakfast, restaurant or even conversion/re-development entirely to residential, subject to all necessary consents being obtainable.”
The building contains three-bed accommodation plus four rooms which are let to guests. The freehold was being offered with vacant possession.
The Seaview, previously called the Railway Hotel, was opened in 1865.
It was built very shortly after the opening of the final section of the London to Ramsgate railway in 1863.
By 1884 the Hotel had been renamed The Sea View Hotel.
During March 2002, the Shepherd Neame Brewery awarded the Hotel The Most Improved Pub of the Year, in one of their annual awards. In the garden there stands a huge pair of ribs forming an arch. They were taken from a whale that beached itself at Minnis Bay in 1919.
The landlord of the time, Walter James Baker, was down at the Bay when the carcass was being dismembered for disposal and asked for the ribs, to act as a feature in his garden at the pub.
The auction took place at The Clive Emson Conference Centre in Maidstone this morning (December 11).
Shepherd Neame recently sold The Sportman in Cliffsend and The Orb in Margate for development.
History courtesy Birchington Heritage Trust
Its not surprising they sold the pub it as it was competition for their other outlet in Minnis Bay and of course there is the well attended pub in the Square. At the risk of upsetting. A pub is only as good as the landlord and the food it serves.
Lets hope they don’t knock it down and replace with a block of concrete flats.