Another pub bites the dust.

A planning application has been submitted to turn The Ship Inn in Castletown into a home.

The former Heron and Brearley pub, in Hope Street, has been closed since 2013.

Dawn Collins has applied (19/01225/B) to carry out the work that would make that closure permanent.

She has also applied for registered building consent (19/01226/CON).

The building has been a public house since 1851 when it was the Hope and Anchor, run by Thomas Anchor.

It was renamed as the Railway Inn in 1893 and became The Ship Inn in 1971 when taken over by Ron Kelly.

It ws remodelled to resemble a ship, a new lounge designed to look like a ship’s bridge was added with a balcony over looking the harbour and a ship’s funnel added (painted in Everton FC’s colours, as a very public reflection of Mr Kelly’s allegiance).

The proposal includes a home cinema room and terrace overlooking the harbour.

It’s one of several prominent pubs to have closed in recent years, in addition to the Britannia in Ramsey, the Waterfall Hotel in Glen Maye, the Glen Helen Inn and the Liverpool Arms in Baldrine.

The Ship Inn was sold with a covenant prohibiting its future use as a pub. ’It’s another one gone,’ said Dave Collister from Castletown Ale Drinkers.

He said that in the 1880s there were about 38 ale houses in town. The oldest is the Union, where CADS meet, which was established in the 1790s.

’It’s the changing culture,’ said Dave. ’People drink at home or at friends’ houses whereas they used to go to pubs on their way home from work.’