Bulldozers are to knock down the unluckiest pub in Brighton and Hove to make way for flats.

The White Admiral in Lower Bevendean, Brighton, has stood derelict since it was wrecked by one disaster after another.

It earned its unlucky title after it was flooded, then attacked by vandals, left neglected for months and finally destroyed by arsonists.

Now it is to be demolished to make way for 31 flats and a community centre.

The pub will be replaced with two three-storey blocks of affordable homes designed by Terence Conran.

The Admiral, on the corner of Taunton Road and Leybourne Road, was once a popular hub of the community.

But after the disasters ruined the building, it fell into neglect and has lain empty for several years.

Planning officers at Brighton and Hove City Council had recommended that councillors refuse the application on the grounds that it was an over-development of the site.

But members of the planning committee yesterday ignored their advice and granted permission for the proposal.

Once built, the flats will be rented or part-sold in a shared ownership scheme to help low-paid workers onto the housing ladder.

As part of the planning agreement, the developer, Downland Housing Association, will be asked to pay for and build a community centre on the site and a playground.

Labour councillor Francis Tonks said: "I don't see why we should deny Bevendean a good modern development and residents are very keen to go ahead with this project."

Liberal Democrat David Watkins said: "This is a wonderful opportunity for this money to go to a community hall and we should take advantage of it."

Other councillors were more critical of the proposal.

Conservative councillor Carole Theobold, one of two councillors who voted against the application, said: "The design is ugly and it looks like Colditz. There is no amenity space, no trees and no parking except for a few disabled spaces."

A majority of councillors were happy with the design and high density of the planned development and welcomed efforts to provide facilities for the community.

The Admiral's problems began in the late Nineties when brewers said the venue was not profitable and had to shut. A campaign by customers managed to save the pub but it closed two years later after severe flooding during the freak weather of October 2000.

It became a target for vandals and, in July 1994, was wrecked by an arson attack.