A legendary Hull pub will be moved brick by brick to make room for a new road

Under the £20m plans, which includes building a new 150-bedroomed, nine-storey hotel, the frontage of the Earl de Grey will be moved to Waterhouse Lane 20 metres away.

Work has already started on a new bridge in front of Princes Quay Shopping Centre, ahead of the long-awaited £392m scheme to upgrade Castle Street.

The Grade II-listed pub - which once served dockworkers and seafarers from all round the world and was famous for its parrots - closed in 2005.

The hope is moving it to its "spiritual home" Waterhouse Lane will breathe new life into the building.

Whether it will remain a pub however is not certain.

Developers say with it being next to the new hotel there is "every chance" all or part could end up run by a leisure operator.

While very unusual it is not the first time a pub has been moved brick by brick.

In 1999 the grade II listed The Old Wellington Inn and the grade II listed Sinclairs Oyster Bar in Manchester were taken down and moved 300 metres, forming two sides of a new square near Manchester Cathedral.

Councillors criticised the design of the hotel, with Councillor John Fareham calling it the "cheapest, shabbiest architectural design you could put before a planning committee."

Plans for the hotel - a stone's throw from the Bonus Arena - includes a sky bar, with a south-facing terrace with views across the Marina and beyond to the Humber.

Speaking afterwards director of Wykeland Jonathan Stubbs, speaking on behalf of Castle Buildings LLP, said they would take on board comments over the design.

He added: "We are working with Historic England to develop a methodology to take down the front portion of the building (the Earl de Grey) on a brick by brick basis and retaining and reusing what we can and replicating what we can't use."

Interest had been expressed in the hotel by national and international operators, he said.

The plans will also see the adjacent derelict Grade II-listed Castle Buildings restored.

Castle Buildings was constructed in 1900 as the offices of steamship owners and brokers.

Although it has been behind hoardings for years, Historic England describes it as having a "striking curved frontage that takes full advantage of its prominent corner location on one of the oldest routes into Hull."

"Numerous historic features" linked to its old use as shipping offices are preserved inside and it is an "important physical reminder of Hull’s maritime history and trading links."