AN EYESORE former Kenton pub may be bought as a community asset for the village.

The Dolphin Inn in Fore Street closed in 2022 but it may reopen as a community-owned pub after it was announced it will go up for sale next month.

Bought five years ago by Philip Dare, the pub is now due to go on the market after a number of unsuccessful attempts to redevelop it as a smaller pub and a home.

Kenton Parish Council has successfully nominated the property as a listed asset.

But a previous attempt by the community to buy the building in 2020 failed.

Devon County Council member for Kenton Cllr Alan Connett explained: ‘The owners have given notice to of their intention to dispose of the asset.

‘Under the Community Right to Bid, an interim moratorium period is now in place for a six-week period.

‘This will expire at 5pm on Tuesday March 11.

‘During this period, Kenton Parish Council, who successfully nominated the asset to be listed, and any other local community interest group may request in writing to be treated as a potential bidder for the asset; this will bring the full moratorium period into force.’

Once a written request to be considered as a potential bidder has been received by Teignbridge District Council, the owners Dare Utility Services may not dispose of their asset during the six month full moratorium period, except to sell to a local community interest group.

If no written response is received by Teignbridge Council by March 11, the council will assume that Kenton Parish Council or any other local community interest group does not wish to be treated as a potential bidder, and the pub can then be sold on the open market.

During the protracted planning issues, the building has fallen into disrepair and there had been problems with youths breaking into the property.

Cllr Connett has previously expressed his and the village’s ‘sadness’ at the pub’s appearance and the fact it had been closed for some time.

There has been a ‘strong’ community desire to save the pub with a group already formed as a co-operative to explore whether it can be open as a community enterprise project.

Planning permission had been granted in 2016 which would have allowed part of the building to be converted into a new home while retaining a village pub.

The site sold for £220,000 in 2020 after it failed to sell at auction and a community group in the village was unable to purchase it at that time.

The 2022 planning application had been to convert the building into a three bedroom home with rear garden while retaining a smaller pub with manager accommodation.

But those plans were rejected by Teignbridge Council planners because of concerns over the safety of future occupiers of the proposed development during flooding and it had not been demonstrated that the part of the pub to be retained would be of 'equal or higher quality' than the existing pub.