Ambitious proposals for an Arbroath gateway hotel and restaurant have risen from the ashes of the town’s former Seaforth Hotel.

More than a decade after a huge blaze destroyed one of the Angus town’s most famous function venues, national pub and restaurant chain Marston’s has lodged a proposal for the site in a move described as a “win-win” for Arbroath and Angus by a local councillor.

Marston’s made a first foray into Angus a few years ago with the Dunnichen Stone pub/restaurant development at Orchardbank, adjacent to the A90 Forfar bypass, and the Seaforth site proposal involves a plan to create a 150-cover restaurant and 24-bed hotel within the same building.

Arbroath West and Letham Independent councillor David Fairweather has long campaigned for action on the site of a property which dated back to around 1830, and he said the Marston’s plan was a major boost for Arbroath.

“This site has been a total eyesore and I am over the moon that this has now come forward,” he added.

“For a national company which has developed a well-run operation in Forfar to express this intention to come to the town is a win-win for Arbroath and Angus.”