A BOLTON pub which is more than a century old could be demolished and a 12-storey tower block with 24 flats put in its place.

The George Hotel was sold just a day before it was due to go to auction— for more than double the guide price.

The three storey dilapidated pub sits on a corner plot of almost a tenth of an acre and has planning consent to convert it to a 12-storey mixed use scheme.

Now the new owner will have until the expiry of the current planning consent in March next year to come up with a plan.

Keith Davies, Bolton Council’s head of development and regeneration, said: “The new owner has already made contact with us to discuss plans for the building and we will be taking this further in the next few days.

“The council had put an enforcement notice for demolition on the building because of its dangerous condition, which would cost around £50,000.”

The 100-year-old former pub has been boarded up for some time and was put up for auction with a guide price of £50,000.

But the day before the auction the Victorian pub was sold for £105,000 — more than double the asking price, according to Eddisons’ auctioneer Andrew Brown.

Situated on the junction of Black Horse Street and Great Moor Street, the pub was built in the Victorian era and is believed to have been sold to a developer.

Full planning consent was granted in March 2008 for the demolition of the public house and the erection of a 12-storey mixed use scheme. The plan allowed around 1,100 sq ft of retail space, 22 two-bedroom apartments and two three-bedroom apartments.

A second Bolton lot, a development site in St Georges Road, on sale with a guide price of £60,000, was sold for £70,000 at the auction in Prestwich.

Mr Brown said: “There were three or four bidders interested in the site and it was eventually sold to a buyer I did not recognise.”

The freehold site forms part of a wider scheme with full planning permission for the demolition of the existing building and the erection of 30 apartments plus provision for parking.