A new hotel and pub could be built on the site of one of Falmouth's smallest industrial estates at the entrance into the town.

Pre-application advice is being sought from Cornwall Council on behalf of Marston's Estates Ltd who have outlined a scheme for a 46 bedroom hotel and a 120 cover pub restaurant, along with 90 car parking spaces and a terrace and garden area, on what is currently the Ponsharden Industrial Estate.

The site sits just below Sainsbury's supermarket, not far from the Dissenters’ Cemetery and is a stone's throw from Falmouth Marina. Although Marston's do not yet own the land, the company is testing the water over its proposals by seeking advice from the council's planning department.

The industrial site measures 1.6 acres, has six units and its freehold has been on the market for some considerable time. It has been marketed as having "development potential STPP (subject to planning permission)" and the selling agents also state that a scheme was formerly drawn up to accommodate a restaurant and hotel on the site.

Each of the six units is let on a "short-term and unprotected" basis, with Jeanette Preston, of PANTS charity currently holding the tenancy for three of them. The others are occupied by Trident Plumbing, Heating and Electrical Services Ltd, Sou' West Seafoods and Karian's Picture Framing and Wooden Toys. All the tenants have known for some time that the site is for sale.

Marston's are based in Wolverhampton in the Midlands and have been running pubs and brewing beer in one form or another for more than 180 years. They now have 13,000 employees and run around 1,550 pubs across the country, including the Falcon in Wadebridge, their only offering in Cornwall so far, and have more than 40 inns.

The company says: "We have pubs that are traditional locals, family pub restaurants and fashionable town centre bars. While pubs may have changed a lot over the years, the reasons people use them hasn’t. The pub is where we go to socialise, celebrate, commiserate, relax, reflect, regroup or simply enjoy a cold beer or a bite to eat at the end of a long day.

"We are now one of the country’s top pub businesses and the leading brewer of premium cask and bottled beers. We operate five breweries producing over 60 of the country's best loved ales at our sites in: Burton on Trent, Oxfordshire, Cumbria, Hampshire and the West Midlands.

"We're rightly proud of our heritage - our people, our pubs and our beers. We work hard making sure that everything we do; from the beers we brew, to the pubs they are enjoyed in, and the people that serve them, are always the best that they can possibly be."

Marston's interest in Falmouth follows Premier Inn's numerous attempts to win planning permission for a hotel and restaurant in Falmouth. Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants most recent submission for a 70 bed Premier Inn on a site at Campbeltown Way near Events Square was rejected by Cornwall Council last summer.