A SEAFRONT pub will remain open this summer despite long term redevelopment plans.

The Foresters Arms, in Marine Parade, Southend, will remain open despite developer the Inner London Group’s multi-million plan’s to build restaurants and a 13-storey block of flats on the site, opposite the Kursaal.

Manager Ron Grenfell said: “We are staying open throughout the summer. We haven’t been approached by the brewery or the Inner London Group.”

Dancers perform at the pub every evening and all day on Fridays and Saturdays.

Mr Grenfell, whose mum Sharon Davies is landlady, said: “Our regulars will be more than happy we are staying open.”

The Inner London Group hopes to submit full plans for the ambitious “Marine Plaza”

development for the site, which is derelict apart from the pub, by the end of this year, the Echo revealed earlier this month.

Work to replace derelict former play area Funland, the ForestersArms and a temporary car park with 290 flats and 3,000sq m of commercial floor space could start within six months of permission being granted.