An iconic Newport building which was once an award-winning restaurant is on the market to the highest bidder.

The building, in the city’s historic and improving Lower Dock Street, which for a decade housed the popular, award-winning The Chandlery restaurant before it closed in May 2013, is for sale through Newport-based Paul Fosh Auctions.

The substantial, three-storey former ship's chandlers premises, which very briefly reopened for 12 days as a French-style bistro in October 2013, but which has lain empty since then, includes a premises to the rear which is let to Midnight Motor Factors plus a car park.

The auction guide price for the whole building, which provides a total space of 8,778 sq ft, is £180,000-plus.

Experts believe the property, with its provenance of a decade operating as a critically-acclaimed restaurant, could be well placed to benefit from the current and on-going investment in the city of Newport and, in particular, at the nearby Friars Walk.

The restaurant section of the building is being sold with vacant possession while the trade counter unit is let on a new ten-year lease to Midnight Motor Factors. VAT is applicable to this lot, and the building will be offered at the next Paul Fosh Auction sale on Thursday, May 14, at the Park Inn Hotel, Circle Way East, Llanedyrn, Cardiff.