A police officer who was murdered by a burglar while on patrol will be honoured in a new pub opening on the site of a former police station.

Constable Frederick Atkins was shot three times by an unseen gunman when he was on night duty in Kingston Hill on September, 23, 1881.

The 23-year-old was rushed back to Kingston Police Station, which was then located in Old London Road, but died later the same day.

His murderer was never caught, but in a huge mark of respect more than 1,500 officers attended his funeral and he was buried in the Municipal Cemetery in Walton.

A plaque dedicated to the former constable now sits in the police’s memorial garden in Kingston and a replica is being made to take pride of place in the Watchman pub, which will open on Tuesday, April 10.

The high street pub sits on the former site of New Malden police station, which originally housed the memorial and has been a local landmark since it opened in 1891.

The station was known as the watch house and provided a meeting place for the borough’s watchmen with a parade ground, cells and a measuring rack for prisoners.

The replica plaque will be displayed in the pub garden and operators JD Wetherspoon have pledged to include local history information and artwork in the new £1.9m outlet.

These will include commissioned sculptures making reference to Decca Records, as 60,000 vinyl records a day were once manufactured at the company’s Burlington Road factory, just round the corner from the pub.

Manager Rob Newman said: "Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into the pub and we are confident that it will be a great addition to New Malden’s community."