A historic pub which served punters for 131 years is set to become a food shop.

Gillingham Foods will be opening in the building previously home to The Westcourt Arms.

The 19th century pub on the corner of Gillingham Road and Canterbury Street opened in 1888, and its beer cellar was accessed via a tunnel under the road.

However, it shut in July 2019.

In March 2021, an application was submitted to change the building from a public house into a shop which was approved six months later.

In June of the same year, the disused building had been impacted by a huge blaze and the inside and outside were badly damaged by smoke.

The fire had ripped through and gutted the ground floor of the building but no injuries were reported.

Signage has now been put up for the new shop which will be selling Indian and Asian groceries, as well as Polish, Eastern European and Afro-Caribbean foods.

An opening date is not yet known.