A pub which police tried to close down over allegations of under-age drinking and drug abuse could be demolished and replaced by a new bar.

Brighton and Hove City Council has received plans to demolish the Harbour View and replace it with a four-storey building with a pub on the ground floor and nine flats above.

The pub in Wellington Road in Portslade had its licence revoked in October by the council’s licensing committee but the pub is currently still open while the licence holder appeals the decision.

No court date has been set for the appeal and The Argus understands the planning application is holding up and complicating the decision to set a review date.

In an application to Brighton and Hove City Council, David Collins, of Ringmer-based Collins Planning Services, said the pub was outdated and in need of improvements.

Mr Collins said his client would like to start a regeneration of the South Portslade Industrial Estate and Aldrington Basin by redeveloping the pub.

One-bedroom flats in the scheme would have balconies, while the top-level apartment would be a two-bed property.

Previous proposals were rejected over the size of the site and the plan has now been amended following discussions with planning officers.

A Sussex Police report on the pub made public in August outlined a number of incidents that officers said were serious enough to warrant closure of the venue.

The report listed incidents where police officers had been assaulted, alcohol being sold to people under age, reports of women being sexually assaulted, as well as traces of cocaine and heroin found on the premises.

William Seed, a new supervisor appointed at the pub in August, promised councillors he would wipe out the pub’s notorious past to get the venue back on track.

Labour councillor Alan Robins, for South Portslade, cautiously welcomed the development plans.

He said: “Provided it fits in with the whole development plan for the area and provided they get the right people to run it, then it might be what’s needed to solve the problems that have been there.

“To be honest, it was a bit of a surprise when it all blew up about what was happening there. I had always thought of it as a quiet corner of the world.”

A decision on the planning application is expected at the end of January.