A HISTORIC pub site has reopened after being developed into a new restaurant and nine flats.

Stockvale, owners of Adventure Island and Sealife Adventure in Southend, has spent more than £2million on the development of the former Britannia pub, on Eastern Esplanade, Southend.

It officially opened to the public yesterday.

The development has been delayed due to setbacks including the site been flooded twice and required major works including asbestos removal from the walls and ceilings.

Marc Miller, managing director of Stockvale said it’s great to finally open the new restaurant to the public.

He said: “What tastes better than good old fashioned fresh fish and chips? And its much healthier and more affordable than the national chains.

“This is our fifth fish and chip outlet including Sands, Clarence Yard, The Pavilion and one more at Adventure Island.

“The site came along on a tender basis. We made an offer without viewing not realising it was in a bit of a two and eight.

“Anyway £2million later, we are open.

“It took a lot longer than we expected, usual planning delays held us up, we should have had this done and dusted two years ago.”

Steven Kearney, from Ska Architects, said: “There was significant damage to the building and most of the heritage asset had been completely destroyed, with the exception of the front elevation which was saturated.

“This has come at a great deal of cost and careful construction work but as can been seen the Britannia once again stands proud along Eastern Esplanade.”

A campaign was launched in 2016 to preserve the building, which is believed to date back to 1793. The pub closed in 2015.

It was originally thought the building was too damaged to be preserved but after careful inspection, architects said they could preserve more of the building than originally thought.