CAMPAIGNERS say the fight to save the site of a historic pub is not over, despite it being sold for just over £1 million.

The group, Save The Dyke Pub, said if the new owners choose to develop the building, it will “fight them all the way”.

The Argus can now reveal the site in Dyke Road, Brighton, was sold by estate agents Carr and Priddle earlier this month to Lan Estates for £1,050,000.

The campaign group said the figure was “two fingers to the local community”.

The site has been home to a pub for more than a century, but it closed overnight in September 2016, angering the regulars who have been campaigning to restore their local ever since.

Ian Fardell used to work behind the bar at the pub and started the Save The Dyke Pub campaign when its closure was announced.

He said: “We’re absolutely gutted but this is not the end of the fight – it’s just going to be a longer fight than it was before.

“If they decide they want to develop it as a site, we’ll make it as difficult as possible for them.

“We will fight them all the way and hopefully they’ll get bored too, then we’ll find someone who does want to turn it into a pub.”

Campaigners claim a reasonable bid was put forward by a local publican to bring back The Dyke Pub but this is denied by Carr and Priddle.

It is also claimed that part of the building is set to be leased out to a food market.

Mr Fardell said: “There’s plenty of people who would have paid that price so the fact that they accepted that money for it is basically two fingers to the community.

“Many people in the area wants it as a pub so I will feel sorry for anyone who takes it over now as there will be a lot animosity there.”

The campaigners said they would turn the building back into a pub and run it on a lease should the new owners wish to do so.

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, Brighton and Hove has lost 20 of its pubs since 2010, bringing the total number of pubs within the city to 250.

In a bid to keep their locals from calling last orders, there have been multiple attempts from communities across the city to buy their pubs and save them from closure.

A spokesman from Carr and Priddle said: “The building has been sold and we’re in the process of leasing it at this moment in time.

“It is currently under offer and we hope to conclude matters shortly.”

Lan Estates, which Carr Priddle said was “an investor”, could not be contacted for a comment.