Work is being carried out to transform the top floors of a closed-down town centre pub into guest accommodation.

The John Wallis in Ashford has been closed for almost three years – and while the building will partly reopen, the pub will not be returning as before.

The Grade-II listed building in Middle Row, known previously as the Man of Kent, has been closed since March 2020, when the beginning of Covid restrictions shut hospitality businesses.

Despite rules beginning to ease a few months later, owner Shen Sen confirmed the pub would not be reopening.

The windows and doors of the town centre stalwart were boarded up after it was listed on the market but failed to attract buyers for the £550,000 asking price.

Mr Sen, who owns a number of businesses in Ashford, later gained planning permission to turn the first and second floors into guest accommodation. He has confirmed he is no longer looking to sell the former pub.

Last week, scaffolding was put up around the building, with workers carrying out renovations on the inside and outside.

Mr Sen first applied for planning permission in 2018 - while the pub was still open. It was granted in 2020.

"When I first applied, it took them about two years and then the pandemic shut everything down," he told KentOnline.

"It's really messy in there so I am spending a lot of money to bring it back to standard.

"It will reopen as guest accommodation at the top. I'm not sure what will happen to the ground floor but I am not selling."

As well as the internal alterations, work is also being carried out to repair the outside of the building and to install a new window on the north front of the structure.

There is also planning permission to form an additional bar area in the basement, and new toilet facilities on the ground floor.