The loss of a pub is often mourned by many, particularly those that have been around for what seems like forever.

One on the "under threat" list is the Old House at Home in Sheerness. So before it disappears to make way for flats, Bel Austin recalls her memories of visiting as a child when she tap danced on the bar and was served alcohol - it was the 1940s...

There is no denying the old ‘uns dislike change.

They don’t want buildings torn down to create something new and even dislike items swapped to different shelves in shops.

It must be something to do with keeping all that is familiar and not destroying memories.

You can hardly blame them when radical change is not always for the better.

We’re reminded of clinging to the past with a recent proposal to tear down the Old House at Home pub in Sheerness High Street to make way for a block of flats.

"Sometimes there was a bottle of pop too, paid for by the regulars in return for my tap dancing on the bar."

I must admit I felt a bit of nostalgia myself about the prospect.

As a kid, living across the road in what was Albion Place, it was often my job to go to fetch a jug of black and tan drawn from the wood for my dad and a bottle of milk stout for mum.

My reward was a packet of crisps with salt in a twist of blue paper. Sometimes there was a bottle of pop too, paid for by the regulars in return for my tap dancing on the bar.

Of course that would most certainly not be allowed today.

Who would serve a child with alcohol and an ounce of Digger shag? Even worse, who would haul a minor up onto the bar? But this was the mid 1940s and things were very different then.

June Luxon, of St George’s Avenue, Sheerness, has memories of the Old House at Home some years later - of log fires, darts teams, league matches, tontine clubs, playing crib, cards and dominoes, and men enjoying an excellent pint straight from the barrel.

“It is so sad to think a pub which always had such a welcoming atmosphere could be demolished,” she said.

She and husband Ron regarded it as their local when Vic and Rose Hough were behind the “jump” before moving to The Ship (now The Aviator) at Queenborough Corner.

After that Albert and Doreen Sell became the hosts and it was a very popular watering hole.

Albert was always impeccably dressed - nothing as casual as a jumper, always a collar and tie.

The pub too was gleaming, from the old-fashioned brass to the polished bar.

She recalled that Thursday nights were men’s darts nights and on Friday she ran a tontine (collected money for a Christmas pay-out).

June, a born organiser, was happy to cheer the men on as they played darts but thought the ladies too should have the chance to aim the arrows.

So Tuesday night saw them in action.

Inevitably they challenged the men in friendly matches both home and away and the next step had to be the league.

So it was the Sheppey Ladies Friendly Darts League on the Double Board, with the co-operation of Jean Clifford who was born at the Old House at Home.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the League.

She retired from it 30 years ago and doubts she’d even hit the board these days.

But her greatest hour was playing a friendly at the Red Lion, Blue Town when she put all three darts in a double 19 to win the game.

As for the Old House, its fate is in the hands of the planners at Swale Council.

If the plans are given the green light, it would see the venue demolished and replaced with a three and four-storey building with commercial space on the ground floor.

The development would include five one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom flats - but all that went before would be gone, apart from fading memories and newspaper cuttings.

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