A famous seafront pub in Worthing will serve its last drink on New Year's Eve.

Planning permission for flats on the site of the Litten Tree, Worthing, was granted early this year despite protests from conservationists.

Now it has been confirmed that the pub will close on December 31 in a prelude to demolition.

The Spanish-style pub at the junction of Marine Parade and West Buildings, formerly called Roberts Wine Lodge, has been a feature of the seafront for decades.

It will be replaced with a four-storey, bow-fronted Regency-style terrace.

Staff at the pub today confirmed the pub would close but declined to comment further. It is believed people living at the Litten Tree will have a week to move out.

Worthing Borough Council planner Paul Pennicott said he wasn't aware the site had attracted a buyer.

He said: "The person who got permission to build flats was someone who acquires sites and then sells them and moves on rather than carries out the redevelopment.

"There are no signs of a development happening in the near future as far as the council knows. I don't think they've found a buyer."

Plans to demolish the Litten Tree caused controversy and a Worthing Society conservation group spokesman said: "We were totally opposed to the demolition of this historic and interesting building."

The pub was originally built in the Victorian era, when it was a school for young ladies, and was converted into a pub by Roberts and Son in 1950.