THERE are plans to build two houses on the site of a former Inverkeithing pub that was knocked down by mistake.

Royal Marine Ross Hunt eventually won a court battle for compensation and a £69,500 payout after he returned from duty to find the old Quayside Inn, which he'd turned into his home, had been demolished in error.

The bandmaster had broken down in tears when he saw his fully furnished property on Harbour Place had been reduced to rubble, with those responsible claiming it was a wreck and implying they had done him a "favour".

To add insult to injury, the firm then opposed his claim for damages but in true 'Who Dares Wins' style, the Marine took them to court and won in March 2017.

Six years on, an application has been submitted to Fife Council by a company called MRL, of Charlotte Square in Edinburgh.

They want to build two family homes, with double garages, access and landscaping.

It's a renewal of a previous application by the same company which was submitted in May 2017 and approved by the council in August of that year.

Planning permission generally lasts for three years but, despite three time extensions for Covid, work never got underway.

READ MORE: Royal Marine wins court battle after his home was wrongly demolished

Planning agents, EMA Architecture and Design Ltd, who have the same address in Edinburgh, said: "The land to the west of Harbour Place will offer much needed family homes to the area and the opportunity to regenerate a brownfield site.

"The plan has been designed to maximise views to the harbour and to take advantage of the natural light flooding in from the south.

"The site is in close proximity to the High Street and to the train station, which has regular links to Edinburgh and Fife."

The Quayside Inn was previously known as Ye Olde Foresters Arms and had been a pub since 1873.

Mr Hunt bought it and the upstairs flat in 2004 for £150,000. His property was demolished in September 2012.

It was next to the site of the derelict Caldwell's paper mill in Inverkeithing, which was demolished in the same year and the land cleared.

When Mr Hunt's career took him around the world, his home was unoccupied.

However, he was intending to return to live there when he took up the role of bandmaster for the Royal Marines Scotland Band.

At a hearing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, he recalled receiving a phone call from a friend with the devastating news.

Mr Hunt had said: “He asked why I had knocked it down. He’s a bit of a joker and so I thought it was just a sick joke.

“He told me that he’d walked past the property that day and it was a pile of rubble.

“Once I’d established it had happened I went through a number of emotions.

"Prolonged disbelief that it would be possible for my home to be knocked down, for my home to be gone without me knowing about it.”