by Hayley Robinson

Sittingbourne's longest serving landlord has pulled his last pint.

Mick Page (pictured) worked his last shift at The Ship last night (Wednesday).

Staff and customers marked the occassion by throwing a surprise party at the East Street watering hole.

His retirement comes just days after the public house was sold.

It had failed to attract a buyer when it went under the hammer with Network Auctions last Tuesday.

But Porters Chartered Surveyors, which was handling the sale on behalf of Enterpise Inns which owns the pub, sold the pub to Downmores Ltd last Friday for an undisclosed sum. It’s auction guide price had been £155,000.

The pub is now closed but it’s believed the new owners plan to reopen it as a boozer.

Mr Page, 68, who took over the pub in 1978, has until Tuesday to clear his belongings.

Once that is done he says he’s looking forward to spending his spare time playing golf and enjoying life with family and friends.

"I’ve had enough" he said.

"I’m looking forward to doing more things for myself and not worrying about the pub all the time.

"It all happened very quickly. Thursday I was told it hadn’t sold then I got a garbled message on Friday that it had sold.

"I said I wanted to quietly disappear and a couple of my staff said they’d come in on Wednesday and give me hand so I could have a quiet night. But when I came downstairs later that evening it was full of people and we had a fantastic party.

"There was about 40 to 50 people and 14 members of staff from over the years, there was a band and some food, it was brilliant."

The Old Oak public house, a few doors away from The Ship, failed to attract a buyer when it was up for auction on the same day. It had a guide price of £110,000.

Both freeholds were being offered as vacant possession but the catalogue description said the two properties had ‘development potential’ subject to planning permission from Swale council.