Famous Bexhill pub set to close

The current tenants have been told they must leave by that date, after which the windows will be boarded-up.

What happens to the Church Street building after that is uncertain. The pub is currently owned by Maidstone-based pub chain The Bar Group.

A spokesman denied rumours that the pub will to be converted into flats. He added: "The only comment we are prepared to make is that we are considering options for the future."

Current licensee Jo Thiele, who has been at The Bell four years, said she was in the dark as to what would happen to the pub after March 8.

The Bell was an old posting house modernised into a hotel in 1888 and has been a meeting place for the community. Only last year there was controversy when Old Town post office closed.

Old Town Preservation Society chairman Michael Kent said the Bell news came as a great surprise to him. He added: "We had heard the flats rumours but we understood that the place was going to be renovated.

"It is certainly an issue of interest to us because The Bell is an important part of the Old Town as a business and as a building.

"We would like to see it put to an appropriate use bit I'm not sure what that use would be. No doubt the issue will arise at out next meeting in early March.

"It must be remembered that the building is protected by association because it is in a conservation area."