BAR owners who ripped out the frontage of a pub in a conservation area, have been ordered to return the building to its original state.

Potion Bars bought the White Hart pub in Erith High Street in XXX and decided to remove the old pub front and replace it with contemporary floor-to-ceiling metal-framed glass windows.

But it failed to apply for planning permission for the changes.

When it did, planning planning permission was refused in March last year.

The pub was built around the turn of the last century and is locally listed as a building of interest.

It used to have a bell in the bar which summoned theatre-goers back to the next door Erith Playhouse, when the curtain was due to rise on the second part of its performances.

The building, in Erith High Street has a large mural on its side wall depicting a Thames sailing barge and painted by local artist Gary Drostle in 2005 as part of a series of public art works in the town.

It is also part of the Erith Riverside Conservation Area.

When planning permission was refused, the owners appealed against the decision and have now lost their appeal.

The planning inspector said his main concern was the effect of the new frontage on the character of the building and the conservation area.

He said he considered the frontage was “of significant importance in how the building was seen and perceived”.

In his report the inspector said replacing the original frontage with modern glass had “resulted in the loss of an intrinsic part of the building’s historic character”, and had destroyed the former “well-proportioned and suitably detailed entrance”.

The inspector described the new frontage as a “bland, glazed, newly-inserted ground floor street wall” saying it was an “incongruous addition” to the property and had “a rather featureless appearance which was badly matched to its sensitive historic context”.

Bexley Council had also served an enforcement notice on the bar to remove the glass and restore the frontage, which the company also appealed and lost.

The six-month deadline for restoring a frontage similar to the old one has nearly expired, but a council spokeswoman said: “Discussions to find an acceptable solution are in progress and we hope we will not need to take legal action.”