A MUCH-loved pub dubbed the “most important in Southend” must be brought back to life and re-opened after being closed for almost a year, it has been claimed.

Campaigners say The Railway Hotel, on Clifftown Road, Southend is a “vital part of the town and the prolonged closure must end”.

Collapsing under “the weight of unbearable pressures and almost un-tradable circumstances”, the business closed it’s doors in April last year.

Tony Cox, leader of the Southend Tories, said it’s as vital to Southend as The Cavern - an iconic nightclub considered the brith place of the Beatles - is to Liverpool.

He said: “It’s such an important venue and we need to back very soon. Southend is known for live music just like everyone loved at The Railway.

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“We are having a real shortage of live music venues in the town and the Covid pandemic has done so much damage to them.

“It’s a vital part of Southend and we need to get it back open very soon.”

Cheryl Nevin, Labour councillor for Milton also called for the pub to be re-opened as early as possible.

She said: “I think it would be lovely if the pub could be used again and I know so many people have connections to it.

“I like so many others would very much welcome it coming back into use too. I very much look forward to hearing the plans by the bosses for the site.”

The Railway Hotel will go down in the town’s history as not only an elegant Victorian pub, but also home to rock music and the Southend arts scene.

Echo:

James Vessey-Miller, former manager of the iconic venue, announced the sad news on Twitter last April about the closure.

At the time he explained the site had “run out of steam”.

A spokesperson for Star Pubs and Bars, which owns the pub, said: “The Railway Hotel, Southend is currently leased to an independent operator who took the decision not to reopen the pub after the first lockdown in 2020.

“There is an ongoing process to end their agreement with us.”