by Joe Walker
joewalker@thekmgroup.co.uk

The empty Upper Red Lion is set to be sold to a mystery buyer within two weeks, the Gazette can reveal.

A cash bid of more than £250,000 has been accepted by owner Punch Taverns and a deal is nearing completion.

But Fleurets, the firm marketing the building, says the buyer has given no indication of what it plans to do with the pub in Canterbury Road, Herne.

Estate agent Donna Frostick said: “It’s progressing through solicitors and at the right pace. Exchange is due within the next two or three weeks.

“There were nine bids on the property and a lot of interest, all for different uses.

“Nothing has been indicated as to what [the prospective buyers] plan to do with it. It really depends on what happens when it’s bought. It’s a cash-buyer, which makes a massive difference.

“It means they can buy it and sit on it before they decide what to do.

“If it does fall through, everybody who bid will be informed, but it’s very unlikely.”

The uncertainty over the pub’s future follows a successful six-month battle by villagers to stop Tesco opening a store on the site.

Herne Against Tesco (Hat), a group set up to fight the store proposal, put in a £250,000 bid to buy the pub earlier this month, but has yet to source funding.

Mrs Frostick said: “The client considered all of the bids put forward, but you can’t sell a property to someone without proof of the funding being in place.

“I understand with the consortium that proof wasn’t there.”

Hat chairman Frank Holden, who led a public meeting at Herne Church on Tuesday, says the group will be prepared to make an offer if the deal falls through.

It is hoped villagers could buy shares in the property at £1,000 each, with the building used as a community venue or ongoing business.

He said: “Anything could happen – something could come out of the woodwork and it could break down.

“If that happens we have to be in a position to put in a serious bid. I’d rather people said we were wasting our time than say we weren’t prepared if that situation arose.

“I just hope the buyer is not a large conglomerate, because they’ve been known to buy properties and leave them sitting there before they decide what to do. We’d just be left with a boarded-up eyesore.

“Hopefully they’ll say this is what we’re planning to do and work with the community, because the building is right in the heart of the village.”