A FORMER pub in Helensburgh which was opened as a cinema more than 100 years ago is set to go under the hammer at an online auction next week.

The building in James Street, last known as the Logie Baird pub, is featured in Future Property Auction's catalogue for an online event on Thursday, April 7.

Plans for a new bar and restaurant on the premises - known as The Dapper Dug - were unveiled last October.

The catalogue for next week's event gives the property a starting price of £229,000.

A spokesperson for The Dapper Dug told the Advertiser that its landlord has pulled out of the auction, however, Future Property Auctions said it is currently still due to go ahead.

The spokesperson also said the only change resulting from any future sale of the building would be who the business pays its rent to.

Originally opened in 1913, the C-listed building was the site of the La Scala cinema.

It has lain empty since the Logie Baird's operators, local couple Cara and Milan Nikolic, closed the business down in 2019.

They had taken over and restored the building, which had fallen into disrepair after passing through the hands of numerous owners in the years prior, in 2017.

But the business ran into problems after a spate of police incidents in the vicinity of the premises, and an 11pm weekend curfew was imposed by the Argyll and Bute licensing board in April 2019.

That curfew was overturned on appeal, on condition that the door stewarding firm at the pub was replaced, but after no firm could be found with sufficient resources to take on the job, it was decided to close the business.

According to posts on social media The Dapper Dug was originally due to open in mid-November 2021, but that date was pushed back until the spring of this year as a result of "unforeseen delays".

When the plans for the building were first announced last October, it was stated that the new venture would create around 20 new jobs.

The Dapper Dug was advertising for staff for the business via social media as recently as Thursday night.

The La Scala was one of three picture houses in Helensburgh and was the last one to close in 1984 after showing films for 70 years.

It went on to become an amusement arcade and later a snooker hall before closing in the 1990s.

The building’s iconic features were recognised in 1993 when it was named as a C-listed premises by Historic Scotland.

It opened as the Logie Baird in 2007 after an £800,000 renovation by UK pub chain Barracuda, but was closed by administrators in November 2013, with Mr and Mrs Nikolic taking it on four years later.