A PUB which closed during the Covid pandemic has received a “lot of interest” from landlords willing to take it over and restore it to life.

The Railway Hotel, in Clifftown Road, is one of Southend’s best-known pubs but closed in 2020 due to “un-tradable circumstances” and has remained shut ever since.

Last year, brewery Star Pubs revealed it was planning a “significant refurbishment” including a new bar with “instagrammable” features.

Despite no deal being completed the brewery says it has received a “lot of interest from potential operators” and is now weighing up its options.

Musician Sam Duckworth has performed many times at the Railway Hotel and is enthusiastic at the prospect of it coming back.

He said: “It is an institution, and it is a vitally important part of the Southend music scene. Everyone misses it, socially and culturally and it is important that all is done to open it.

“As a result, I am happy it might be coming back and as a music venue. The Railway is the venue people know, with the music upstairs and a great pub downstairs.

“For a cultural ecosystem, you must have venues that cater to all tastes and it was special, it was somewhere where all could play and enjoy. It had prestige and heritage and more than anything, it was in the centre of Southend.”

Sam added that the “spirit of the community” is built in places like the Railway Hotel and “we can’t turn our back on it, due to inconvenience or because people want it turned into something else”.

Former Canvey guitarist Wilko Johnson and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, David Bowie, had been known to attend the pub regularly.

In 2007, Southend musician Dave Dulake and his wife Fiona oversaw a £50,000 refurbishment and successfully ran the pub for almost 13 years before it was put up for sale.

A Star Pubs spokesman said: “The Railway Hotel, Southend has received a lot of interest from potential operators.”