The former home of an award-winning cookery school is set to be sold within weeks.

The Chequers Kitchen building in Golf Road, Deal, closed early last year as its managers decided to revert to mobile visits.

Having sat empty since then, plans to convert it into a home were given the go-ahead by Dover District Council – but now the future of the project will depend on its new owners.

Auctioneer Clive Emson has been tasked with finding a new custodian to take over the site, with a starting guide price of £160,000.

Though currently only one-storey, the planning permission would allow for a second floor to be built – which could host two bedrooms.

The ground floor could boast a kitchen, larder, wine store, living room, games room, bathroom, office, utility and store room.

The building currently hosts stained glass panels internally.

Discussing the decision to leave its home of 10 years behind, director Stephanie Hayman previously said: “The time was right to change our business model and move to a mobile service.

“We will now take our classes into communities rather than asking people to come to us.

“We will focus on our mission to teach people to cook from scratch on a tight budget, so they can access a healthy diet or work-related skills.

“We will continue to teach adults, children and families in community settings and schools, and offer a support service for new food businesses and social enterprises.

“We are looking forward to this new way of working.”

Its base provided free or subsidised lessons as a social enterprise also offering high-quality recreational cookery classes, team building and dining events for the members of the public.

The centre enjoyed visits from celebrities in its time.

In 2022, Frankie Bridge, a singer from the girl band The Saturdays, indulged in a three-hour-long pizza-making evening.

She shared pictures of the cooking class to her 1.5 million followers on Instagram.

In 2014 Chequers even beat Jamie Oliver to the Best Community Focused Cookery School top prize.

The celebrity chef’s Ministry of Food was the runner-up in that category for the UK Cookery School of the Year awards.

The kitchen also won awards such as Kent Life Food and Drink Hero 2013 and was a finalist in the Kent Excellence in Business Awards in 2018.