Every day, thousands of people drive past a once-popular pub that has become one of Kent’s biggest eyesores. So what is being done to address this derelict blot on the landscape?

Here, reporter Max Chesson speaks to former landlords and local historians as he searches for answers...

As recently as 2015, the Share and Coulter was a family-friendly pub where the taps flowed, the punters laughed and memories were made.

Located in Owls Hatch Road, West Bay – a matter of minutes from Herne Bay – it was once a “very fashionable place to go”, boasting an open log fire.

But today an air of melancholy surrounds the now abandoned boozer, which can be seen from the busy New Thanet Way.

At the site itself, you are greeted by the gentle hum of the electrical substation across the road and the symphonic twittering of the birds above.

Some of the security boards blocking windows and doors have been torn down, while others rattle in the wind.

Most of the roof tiles are gone - with the grisly, bare bones of the structure revealed for all to gawk at.

Aspiring graffiti artists have left colourful homages to their own talents and pink bushes have begun to sprout, adding a touch of delicacy to the brutish building.

It’s a level of decay you would expect after decades of neglect.

Yet just eight years ago the Share and Coulter was still selling pints. Sold at auction in September that year for £265,000 by previous owners Lucky Five Star, the pub has experienced a shockingly swift fall into rack and ruin.

In less than two years, what was once the heart of the community had transformed into a makeshift tip and occasional travellers camp.

But it wasn’t always like this. Locals of a certain age will remember the pub as being a hive of activity - it was the place to be.

Even up until 2014, it had its own football team - a long-running one at that - which boasted multiple successes in the local Sunday League.

So how does a charming country pub become one of Kent’s biggest eyesores in less than 10 years?

Trevor and Claire Robinson were the last landlords - with their time managing the pub ending after issues with rats and mould forced them to jump ship.

Mr Robinson told KentOnline: “I gave the new owner plenty of warning that if I moved out, someone would need to move back in quickly or it’ll become very derelict.

“And I was proven right - within a week of me moving my last vehicle things began to kick off.

“Within four days of the auction there was a huge downpour and the pub flooded with sewage, leading to a massive infestation of rats.

“The whole place was going mouldy. You could see it on the carpets, and nobody was willing to spend any money on it.

“It would have needed gutting. It was a horrible situation and downfall but a lot of it comes down to bad timing.”

Having once planned to buy it for about £180,000 before the price spiralled at auction, the Robinson family continued to live in the pub until December 2015 while they got their affairs in order.

By Mr Robinson’s own admission, the pub generally broke even but brought in very little profit.

“There were so many obstacles to overcome for the Share and Coulter,” the dad-of-two said.

“There was so much going against it - location, tough winters, the New Thanet Way, flooding.

“The new owner initially wanted me to take it on as a business. I said wait until it’s purchased and completed and we could talk.

“After a few months of dealing with the aftermath of the flood I just had to give up. We stayed for a while as a favour to the new owner but it got to be too much.

“If it had sold in the summer, it could have had someone running it by the time it flooded and it would have been insured as well as more motivation to bolster it.”

The land the pub sits on was once known as the Church Estate - owned by the Church and rented out to provide income for the poorer people of the parish.

There is evidence of a boozer on Owls Hatch Road as far back as 1841, when the landlord was James Harris, according to census data.

It was only in the 1930s that the pub began to offer wines and spirits - having exclusively sold beer for almost 100 years before that.

Sylvia McKean, of the Herne and Broomfield Local History Group, recalls the glory days of the Share and Coulter.

“In the 1990s I personally visited the pub quite often where I enjoyed a friendly welcome, good food and especially in the winter months, relaxing in front of a large cosy open log fire,” Ms McKean said.

“In the 60s and 70s the pub was a very fashionable place to go, especially on a Saturday evening when it was packed with customers.

“The beginning of the demise would be in the late 1990s. In 1997 publicans Steve and Sheila Clark were forced to leave because of the disruption of trade caused by the work on the construction of the New Thanet Way.

“When the New Thanet Way opened, unless you knew the area well, approach roads to the Share and Coulter were not so obviously direct, so the pub was often overlooked by passing traffic.”

After the Clarks departed, the bar received a £200,000 facelift in the summer of 1999 and re-opened in the autumn.

But after last orders were called in 2015, being in such an isolated area it quickly became a “fly-tipper’s paradise”.

Within months of closing, KentOnline reported that travellers had made their way onto the land and set up camp.

Canterbury City Council had to intervene on multiple occasions to help clear the site.

The cost of cleaning up the private land was believed to be in the region of £50,000.

Back in 2018, the then-Greenhill councillor David Hirst said there had been “hundreds” of complaints from disgruntled residents who wanted to see the site return to its former glory.

His successor Dan Watkins says he hasn’t experienced quite the same clamour.

“When I hear about it, it’s about something undesirable happening - usually fly-tipping,” the Tory councillor said.

“It doesn’t look great as it slowly degrades and my concern is that the owners are slowly letting it rot.

“Eventually, if it’s not tended to, it could collapse in parts and lose its listed status which would make it easier to develop the site.”

With the building being Grade II-listed as a result of its age, any plans to convert it into anything other than a pub could prove tricky.

While the council has invested money into clearing the area before, the authority ultimately has no power to save the Share and Coulter.

Cllr Watkins said: “It would be nice to see someone experiment with it as a pub but it’s a tough site - it’s been somewhat cut off from the town of Herne Bay.

“It’s not that attractive a site. It’s inaccessible and it’s loud and it’s ultimately not obvious what it could be that could benefit the community.

“There’s rumours about what the owners want to do with it but there’s been no planning applications to my knowledge.”

So if this is the past and the present, what is the future?

No planning applications relating to Share and Coulter have been submitted since 2006, when bosses at the pub wanted to get permission to keep the football pitch to the back of the grounds.

Rumours have consistently offered up suggestions of a care home or a family home but nothing concrete has ever been suggested.

KentOnline contacted the owner, who is also understood to own the former Kind Hearts charity shop in Sea Street, Herne Bay, but he declined to comment.