A PUB is up for sale again after plans to convert it into flats were rejected.

Campaigners could now have the chance to buy the Rose Hill Tavern and keep it as a pub after the latest development fell through.

Owner Joanne Harris, of Evenden Estates, told The Argus she was selling up after Brighton and Hove city councillors threw out her request to transform it into two three-bedroom flats.

She bought the pub, in Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton, from Enterprise Inns which closed it in May 2014 after branding the business unviable.

It means campaigners keen on protecting the building – like the Rose Hill Tavern Action Group – can register their interest to buy with the council. But it leaves the property open to be snapped up by other developers with fresh ideas for the site.

Ms Harris said she was frustrated with the council’s decision but had no issue if campaigners wanted to buy the property.

She said: “The councillors went against the officer’s recommendations on our application. I have decided to sell because our plans were rejected but I don’t believe that will affect the price.

“If the campaigners can raise the funds I don’t have a problem with it. But last time it was on the market no one was interested in it as a pub.

“If it was valued by the community it wouldn’t have been failing before as a pub.”

She said an agent for the sale had not yet been confirmed.

Action group member Richard James said: “It is very feasible to raise funds by the community and purchase it. The community has a right to bid but not a right to buy. It can be sold to whoever Evenden wants to sell to.”

He previously said the council decision showed how elected members cared for their community.

Others in favour of changing the use of the building argued ten pubs were in walking distance of the local. They claim new owners may not be able to make it a thriving venture.

More than 700 people signed a petition to save the pub.

History of Rose Hill and Round Hill

The Rose Hill Tavern, in Rose Hill, Brighton, is more than 100 years old.

It opened in 1870 and has a distinctive design with stained-glass windows.

It is one of a handful of pubs in Brighton with a green tile frontage which represents United Ales and Stout.

The pub was the second property in Brighton and Hove, after Saltdean Lido, to be added to the council’s assets of community value list.

The pub sits in the inner suburban area of Brighton known as Round Hill.

Round Hill itself was developed mostly in the late 19th centuryhe area and quickly became a desirable middle-class suburb.