The hotel, which was purchased by brothers Paul and Michael Lodge in 2015, has been under construction since 2021.
“At the moment, we are aiming to be finished in August,” owner Paul Lodge said.
“We’ve just started to put in the commercial kitchen, and still have to get the flooring done and get the furniture.”
The redevelopment of the hotel will include a bar, bistro area, function space and outdoor decking.
“We didn’t want it to be like every other bar and bistro, we wanted to make it a venue.”
“We’ve done a complete rebuild, with the traditional bricks being the only thing we’ve kept.”
The pub, which was destroyed by fire in 2014, was once owned by Paul and Michael Lodge’s parents, leading to them wanting to buy the pub and refurbish it.”
“We bought the hotel because we had such good memories at it back in the day and we wanted to restore it back to its glory.”
“We probably won’t be making much money out of the hotel, but we wanted to rebuild it because of the sentimental value it has to us and our family,” Mr Lodge said.
While there have been setbacks along the way, Mr Lodge said his brother Michael, who is a civil developer by trade, has gone a great job.
“My brother has never built a pub before, and it’s so different to building a house because there are so many regulations that you have to comply with.”
“But he has done a fantastic job with it.”
The brothers hope that the new development can return the hotel to its former glory and bring people to the town too.
“A lot of people were really missing the hotel, as so we hope that it can bring people back to the community and that it can serve as a meeting place for the town.”
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