A pub landlord has allayed concerns he will shut after his inn was listed to go under the hammer for £600,000.

Garath Williams vows to pull pints for at least another five years at Birchington’s Seaview Pub and Hotel after Clive Emson listed it as a March lot.

While the six-figure sum is a guide price for prospective buyers, Mr Williams’ seven-year lease will see him at the helm until 2029.

In a move to quell concerns, he said in a statement today: “Just to stop any rumours the freehold of the Seaview is up for sale but not my lease.

“We will remain here running the pub as a pub until at least 2029.”

The seven-year fully repairing lease currently generates £50,000 a year for the owner of the pub, and is due to expire in August 2029.

Situated on the corner of Prospect and Station Road, the ground floor boasts a U-shaped bar area with central servery, kitchen and toilets, as well as a separate function area and cellar with two store rooms.

The property has a kitchen, shower room with separate toilets, office and five letting rooms on the first floor whilst there is a three-bed manager’s flat on the second floor.

There is an office to the rear of the site and the building comes with a beer garden boasting the peculiar decorative feature of two rib-bones from a whale and off-street parking for four cars.

Mr Williams has been involved at the pub, which was sold by Shepherd Neame at auction in 2017 for £350,000, since 2017.

In his time, great efforts have been made to show sporting events and live music as well as the introduction of the Seaview Smokehouse.

Once known as The Railway Tavern, it is thought the Seaview took up its current name in 1874.

The property itself opened as a pub/hotel in 1865 two years after the London, Chatham and Dover Railway reached Birchington which resulted in a local economic boom.

The hotel was built to cater to the influx of holidaymakers with many visitors liking the resort so much they purchased a bungalow and became villagers themselves, using the Seaview as their local.

By the 1900s, the then-smaller building incorporated the adjoining Pond Cottage to extend to Prospect Road.

Hidden in the garden are two blocked-up wells, one of which is said to be 240 ft deep.

The auction will begin on March 18 at 10 am with proceedings drawing to a close on March 20.